Chickpeas Café

Thanksgiving Casserole

2011-11-30T17:50:00.000-08:00

I feel I would be remiss if I let the Thanksgiving season slip away without mentioning some things that I am grateful for. It is, after all, my favorite holiday: four days off, lots of vegetables and many opportunities to get together with family and friends. When I think back over the last many months, there have been many causes to smile. One is learning about baby loons. As we were sitting on the screened-in porch of Todd's parents' camp house in Maine looking over the lake, I found out that a baby loon rides around on their mother's back for the beginning of their life! I have yet to see this in person, but hope to be up there at the right time of year to see this in action. I have for a long time thought it would be a nice vacation to spend a week on a quiet lake, taking long, meandering walks, reading and writing. It's certainly not a difficult to accomplish this, so I should consider it as a vacation option this year.
Also on the list of things that have made me smile was the Ruby Rose Tea I bought at the Belmont Farmers' Market to make iced tea and the Lola Highball glasses I bought at Crate and Barrel. The tea is perfect for sitting on your porch reading a book on a nice summer day. The glasses were a luxury purchase for me. After having lived in a very small apartment for a few years and moving many times over my lifetime, I have gotten into a mindset of buying only the necessities and very utilitarian kitchenware. But, when I'm at a friend's house eating out of a nice pottery bowl, or drinking from a fun glass, I have to admit, it brings me a bit of joy. So, I've decided to intersperse some fun into my kitchen. Together, the iced tea made from this special combination of leaves and fruit and the etched glass make a nice combination:

There were many great moments and things I saw during our trip to Oregon, but one that stands out is a very old, large tree in front of a house in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood. Of course, as luck would have it, the woman who lives in the house came home as I was photographing it, but she didn't seem to mind. I'm guessing it's happened before. I tried to imagine the tree in it's spot well over a hundred years ago, and all the people who must have sat under for some shade or a picnic, climbed it, swung from it. It must have been shelter or a resting spot for many a bird and squirrel. And, I wondered what it's seen watching over this neighborhood and land before the neighborhood existed.

Somewhat related are the hand made bird complexes that were scattered about the outside eating area of Merriweather's. We had seen one in a yard in the neighborhood we stayed in as well. I believe it was the father of the restaurant owner who made them. What a great hobby!

This year, I didn't make anything exciting for the Thanksgiving Day dinner. I had tested out this casserole the week before and while it was OK, I didn't end up making another and bringing it to dinner. I think it has potential. It's like a stuffing. I found it on vegweb. If you feel like something carby and comforting, it's worth a try. The recipe called for brown rice OR lentils. I did a blend of both.

Thanksgiving Casserole
1 cup cooked brown rice (this would be a 1/2 cup raw)
1 cup cooked lentils
1/2 cup walnuts or cashews, chopped
2 slices whole wheat bread, cut into cubes
1 cup veggie broth
1/2 cup rice milk (or soy)
2 tblsns nutritional yeast
1 rib celery, diced small
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tblsns of olive or canola oil
herbs to taste: sage, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, pepper (or poultry seasoning)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8 inch casserole dish (I ended up using a bigger baking dish)
2. While rice is cooking, saute the onions and celery in the oil.
3. When rice is done, mix all ingredients in bowl, pour into baking dish and bake for about 45 minutes. This is good with some veg gravy.

Mexican Rice Bowl

2011-09-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

We returned from our vacation to Portland a little later than planned (due to a hurricane on the east coast), but well-fed and rested. We ate and drank so many good things, I don't even know where to begin. I'll just give a few of the highlights for me:

Khao Soi Kai soup made vegan at Pok Pok
Beer battered giant onion rings at Brix Tavern
The Por Que salad at Porque No
Maggie Cassidy cocktail at the Sapphire Hotel
Quinoa, veggie and bean bowl from some rice and noodle joint on Hawthorne
Dirty Farro Curry at Meriweather's (sitting on their fantastic outdoor patio)
French Pear cocktail from Meriweather's
The rice bowl at the Korean BBQ food cart on Belmont St. (rice, kimchee, sesame spinach, cucumber and peanut sauce)

That list is in no particular order and is not exhaustive. Just some memorable items that struck a chord with my tastebuds. Portland is teeming with great cafes, coffeehouses, restaurants and food carts. It is also a vegetarian or vegan's Heaven. Every place you go caters to the non-meat eating and gluten-free crowd. While there are many many great restaurants to enjoy, I hold a special place in my heart for the food carts. I think it must be the variety I like or the casual nature of it. But, also I like that someone can have their own little food business for not a lot of overhead. It's a great concept.

We visited the Oregon Coast, which is beautiful to look at and hike near, but not much for swimming as it's too cold. We also did a nice hike along Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge area which included some waterfalls as a visual reward for your hiking efforts. We got to experience Sunday Parkways where certain streets are closed to cars for several hours as many many cyclists and pedestrians make their way around the route. We watched a movie at Laurelwood Park, hiked around Mt. Tabor and Forest Park. We took a bike tour to see what makes the city so bikeable and then we rode to an amusement park that sits alongside the River Path via the floating pedestrian bridge (in photo above). I did some yoga and went to Saturday Market. I logged time in my favorite coffee shop: The Common Ground. And, of course, we got to spend time with good friends. Paul, Tricia, Grace and Abby were excellent hosts and took good care of us in exchange for iPad usage (these terms were set by Grace and Abby who are big fans of the Talking Tom app). I felt sad leaving and will look forward to returning.
Having been inspired by some of the food I experienced in Portland, I've tried a couple of new things since I've been home. I attempted a soup similar to the one we had at Pok Pok and didn't get it quite right. I've also been making more grain and veggie bowls. I've always enjoyed this type of thing -- noodle and veggies with a sauce or grains with veggies and beans, and I've been making them more often. One of the most simple ones is the Mexican Rice Bowl, which is essentially rice and beans but the ingredients are prepared separately. It's versatile and a fun thing to do for a casual dinner with friends, since everyone can prepare their own the way they like it.

Mexican Rice Bowl
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tblsp canola oil
1 cup of rice (brown or white)
2 cups of water (or a little less)
1 can black beans (mostly rinsed, but you can keep a little of their juice for flavor)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
salt to taste
grated cheese (cheddar or whatever you like)
fresh cilantro, chopped
salsa of your choice
1 avocado, diced

1. Put rice on to cook.
2. Heat oil in a sautee pan. Add garlic, onions and pepper. Cook for a few minutes, then add oregano, cumin and cayenne pepper. Cook until soft and then add a dash of salt.
3. Heat black beans lightly either in a small pan or the microwave.
4. Once rice is cooked, lay out all ingredients (rice, sauteed veggies, cheese, salsa, cilantro, avocado) and let people prepare their own bowl. This is probably enough for about 4 servings. Adjust amounts according to needs.

Summer Squash Pasta Sautee

2011-08-08T10:53:00.001-07:00

When I met up with Caroline yesterday, I was already soaked to the skin from the 5 minutes it took me to ride to Arlington Center to meet her for our planned jaunt through trails on our cyclocross bikes. I greeted her by asking, "Are we dedicated, adventurous or stupid?" To this, she replied, "Yes." Then off we went for 3 hours out in the pouring rain through foot deep puddles and small rivers cascading through the trails. It was, indeed, fun.
I am not what I'd describe as a "hard-core" athlete. When I say "hard-core" I think of someone who is very dedicated, sticks to their training no matter what the conditions, is competitive, and takes some risks in the spirit of getting better at what they do (there's probably some more criteria there, but you get the gist). I'm more of what I'd classify as a "weenie". I do things, and I do them consistently, but I don't push myself often enough. And, if the weather is lousy, I'll often just go to a yoga class instead. I'm also not very competitive. I like to partake in races here or there, but I don't have the competitive drive to work really hard. I mostly do these things because I like the social aspect of it, it gives me a goal, and it pushes me out of my comfort zone.
I fear as I get older, I am becoming more of a weenie. I'm pushing myself less. I can't remember the last time I've done an epic, long road ride. I'm not even sure I could do a 75 or 100 mile ride in the near future. Perhaps I could, but it would hurt. A lot. So this makes me kind of sad and I do plan to work towards a century ride for this Fall.
But, yesterday, when I was returning home from my ride and I passed a runner, also out in the pouring rain, he gave me a sly smile which I promptly returned. It's the smile that says, "I'm just a little crazy, and so are you." This made me happy. Perhaps I haven't completely lost my ability to live just a little on the edge.
Then, I came home and made this recipe from Super Natural Every Day (the recipe is Summer Linguine) by Heidi Swanson, also the author of 101 Cookbooks. It's the perfect recipe for this time of year when there are piles of summer squash to be eaten. I was so eager to eat I forgot to take a photo, so I'll have to make it again soon.

Summer Squash Pasta Sautee
2 medium large yellow summer squash or zucchini, coarsely grated
Fine grain sea salt
4 oz whole wheat linguine
4 oz durum wheat linguine
2 tblspns olive oil
1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 tspn red pepper flakes
1 tblspn unsalted butter
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Fresh ground black pepper

1. Grate the squash and place it in a colander with a few big pinches of sea salt to drain. Press the water out a couple of times.
2. Boil the water and cook the pastas in 2 separate pots or cook in one big pot, but check the cooking times and add them at the appropriate intervals. Reserve a bit of the cooking water when you drain it.
3. Just before you're ready to eat, heat the olive oil in the pan on medium heat and add the garlic and red chile pepper. Let cook for a minute or two until fragrant but before the garlic browns.
4. Squeeze the squash with your hands into the sink to get out remaining water. Add to pan. Cook until tender, stirring frequently, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the pasta and toss to distribute the zucchini. Add a little of the reserved cooking water if it seems dry.
6. Add the butter and the cheese. Toss again and serve immediately.

Black Bean Burgers - Pan Fried

2011-07-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

Recently I read an article on BBC News Magazine listing Americanisms that are becoming more mainstream in the UK, but that the Brits find annoying. I wonder if there are any of our colloquialisms they welcome? Having spent some time living in London when I was in college and now having business colleagues in the UK, I've often thought I'd like to adopt certain British words and phrases. Some I like because they're just a bit more snarky, but some I find appealing because they seem to capture the essence of the mood or idea a bit better than our American words do. Take, for instance, one of my favorites - "sacked" instead of "fired". In a recent example of this, I was reading in a newspaper about the Murdoch scandal where they reported that Rebekah Brooks got "sacked" from News of the World. For me, thinking of someone being sacked creates a vision for me of them being cast aside, perhaps into a trash can. Being fired makes me think of someone going up in flames. Going up in flames is much more damaging or permanent. Being tossed into a trash can is demeaning and unpleasant, but you can bounce back.
Another one on the top of my list: Going to the loo (instead of the bathroom/restroom). Maybe it's me, but going to the loo is more discreet sounding and somehow even cheery. It doesn't seem to scream, "I'm going to perform bodily functions!"
Some other faves:

Bloody -it's so versatile, yet doesn't sound nearly as offensive as the "f" word. "That's bloody fantastic!" "Put down that bloody cell phone while you're behind the wheel!" "What the bloody heck does he think he's doing?"
Cheers - as a greeting, not just prior to drinking a pint
Wanker - as in jerk. "That guy is such a wanker. Don't pay any attention to him."
Smashing - meaning fantastic. "You look smashing in that dress!"
Bollocks - as in rubbish or no good. "That Fox News reporter is talking bollocks."
Ring -as in call someone. "I'll give you a ring when I'm ready to go this evening."
Sod - also versatile - "Sod off" or "Sod it" - again, another lighter sound version of the "f word"

Those are just a few that come to mind. If you have any you especially like, please let me know.

Please don't take this as complaining, because I'm very much enjoying the heat of the summer, but it's been so bloody hot, it's not very conducive to turning on the oven. So, as always, I'm looking for things to make for dinner that are tasty, yet don't require much heat to prepare. I've made a very similar black bean burger recipe in the past, but baked them in the oven. This recipe was taken and adapted from www.thevegandelicious.wordpress.com who adapted it from Veganomicon. I didn't have any wheat gluten, so I used an egg instead, therefore rendering it no longer vegan, but will try it that way next time. These are tasty, a nice texture and cook up quickly. If you've made some fun summer salads and need a protein based accompaniment this is a perfect solution.

Black Bean Burgers - pan fried

2 cups of cooked black beans or 1 15 oz can (rinsed)
1 egg (or go to Meaux's site, listed above for both vegan and gluten free variations)
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tspn chile powder
1/2 tspn cumin
1/4 cup water
1 tbspn tomato paste or ketchup
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 small onion, diced

1. Mash the beans with a fork until there are no full beans left (I've also used a hand potato mashing utensil).
2. Add everything else and mix with a wooden spoon. Then knead with your hands until well mixed and firm.
3. In 4 equal parts make the patties - form a ball and then flatten.
4. In a frying pan, heat up some oil on medium heat. Cook the patties for about 5-7 minutes on each side.

Salad With a Fried Egg

2011-07-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

What came first - the vegan or the vegetarian? This isn't a philosophical mindbender like the chicken or the egg question, and now, in the days of Google, it's fairly easy to find an answer to it. While I figured the vegetarian came first, I didn't know by how much. According to Wikipedia, the first records of vegetarianism date back to 6th century BC! The term "vegan" was coined in 1944. I'm sure there were vegans prior to the label becoming official. But, still, that's a pretty big gap in time.
In more than 2 decades of not eating meat, I have tried a couple of times to go vegan. I found it much harder to sustain that diet. It's not so challenging to do at home, especially when I was living alone, but I find eating socially and eating out to be far more of a burden as a vegan. For a period of time, I ate mostly vegan at home, but would be open to eating dairy and eggs when I ate elsewhere. When I moved in with Todd I found it much more difficult to find lots of options of menus he would enjoy sans cheese. I felt I was already imposing my non-meat ways on him, since I do all the cooking, so I should compromise on dairy. Now, if you look in my fridge you would find feta, chevre, cheddar and Parmesan cheeses at any given time. You would also find yogurt and eggs. I still use non-dairy milk and I still enjoy eating vegan meals, especially when I'm flying solo for dinner.
Tonight, I was on my own for dinner, but did not choose the vegan route. I had a mish mosh of vegetables from both the farmers market and the grocer, and I needed to pull together something quick since I didn't get home until 9:00. Heidi from 101 Cookbooks, a vegetarian cooking blog I read regularly, often throws a fried egg on top a salad or a simple veg dish. I finally decided to try this tonight. I have to say the results were tasty, albeit it an ecclectic combination. I used pea tendrils (big score from the Belmont FM last week) as the greens. Then, I added some steamed sweet potatoes, toasted walnuts, goat cheese, chickpeas and a balsamic dijon vinaigrette.

English peas and Israeli Couscous

2011-06-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

When I was young, maybe middle school or even a bit older, I remember thinking dimes were adorable. No, that's not a typo. Dimes. I liked their small roundness, so I saved them. Then, at some point, I realized I could exchange one cute small two-dimensional round thing for an even cuter three-dimensional round thing: superballs from the gumball machine at the local supermarket. So each week when I went to the store with my parents I'd make the exchange and pretty soon much of my dime collection was turned into a superball collection. I wonder what landfill those colorful plastic orbs are sitting in right now, still perfectly in tact?
I still am attracted to small round objects, but now that I'm older and far more sophisticated, the objects of my affection have also matured. Much of the jewelry I tend to like include little circles. I find patterns on clothing or upholstery that include round shapes in them appealing. And, I think peas are just the most charming vegetable - a bunch of tiny prettily colored green pearls hanging out inside of their own comfy pod. I really can't think of anything in the produce arena that beats them. I bought some English peas during my first visit to the Arlington farmers market today. Even though I only bought a small amount, it took me forever to shell them all because I wanted to stop and study each one and take pictures of my favorites.
Please indulge me in a quick, yet somewhat related tangent. It has to be at least 15 years ago now that I attended, for the first time, the Boston Vegetarian Festival. There was a t-shirt on sale there with a bunch of animals standing around Planet Earth with the caption "All that we're asking is to give peas a chance." It was such a clever little play on John Lennon's song as a plea to vegetarianism. I somehow talked myself out of buying it, probably thinking I shouldn't spend the money on it, but I think about it every so often. I've never seen one again and if I do, I'll certainly buy it.
Once I finally finished shelling the peas, I pulled together a quick and fairly tasty dinner with them. I had mushrooms to use up, so I included those. I think next time I would probably put in some sauteed tofu instead of the mushrooms.

English peas with Israeli couscous
1/2 cup or more of shelled fresh peas, blanched for a half a minute in boiling water
1 cup Israeli couscous, cooked in broth or water with vegetable boullion
small handful of chives or fresh parsley or fresh basil
l cup sliced mushrooms
goat cheese to taste
small handful pine nuts, toasted
oil or bit of butter
salt and pepper

1. Cook couscous while shelling the peas. Put on some water to boil in a small pan.
2. Blanch the peas in the boiling water for no more than a half a minute so they don't get mushy.
3. When the peas are done, strain them and put the same pan back on the heat (medium low). Add the mushrooms and chives (or parsely or basil). Sautee and add salt and pepper.
4. Mix together the couscous, peas and mushrooms. Top with pine nuts and goat cheese.

Marinated Cauliflower Salad

2011-05-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, I've craved some strange foods in my day. Most people crave things like chocolate cake or Doritos. I get a hankering for lima beans. Lately, I find myself wanting cauliflower. A lot. Perhaps I'm making up for lost time. Cauliflower is not something I tended to buy much - very rarely actually. I'm trying to recall making anything with it in the past. I've never disliked it, just never gravitated towards it in the grocery store. And, it's not something I recall coming upon in restaurants, with the exception of Indian. I love it in curries. I had it in the form of Gobi Manchurian recently which was delectable. It's tasty when it's roasted. But now that we have the summer heat upon us, I need to find some simple summer dishes to incorporate my cauliflower fix. I found this recipe on-line that is a Spanish tapas dish. I just had some for lunch. It's very tangy and I would make it again. Marinated Cauliflower Salad
1 small head cauliflower
2 tspns lemon juice
1 hard boiled egg
1 tblspn minced parsely

Dressing
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or canola oil
2 tblspns red wine vinegar
1 clove mashed or pressed garlic
1 tblspn capers (I did not have on hand, so did not use)
1 tspn paprika
1 dash cayenne pepper
salt to taste

1. Cut the large stems off of the cauliflower and break into florets. Place cauliflower in a half inch of boiling salted water and the lemon juice. Simmer, covered, for 10-12 minutes until just barely tender (do not overcook or it will fall apart).
2. Remove from the water, drain well, rinse and cool. Cut the cauliflower into more manageable bite-sized pieces if necessary. Cover with marinade and gently fold cauliflower into the marinade with a rubber spatula. Let sit for a few hours or overnight.
3. When ready to serve, crumble hard-boiled egg and parsley on top.

Grilled Tofu

2011-05-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaaaaah - vacation. I needed that.
It occurred to me a few weeks ago that I was very tired and could use some time away from work. I have this bad habit of taking vacation in the summer and then realizing at the beginning of May that I have not taken any significant time off since August. You'd think I would've caught onto this by now, but it seems to happen year after year. Adding to my tiredness was the relentless dreary gray, rainy, 50 degree stretch of weather we were having. It was sapping what little energy I had left. I was craving light and relaxation. After some deliberation, I decided to partake in a yoga vacation on an island off the coast of South Carolina. I'd never been to the state before and when I saw the extended forecast was showing sunshine and heat for days on end, it was the extra incentive I needed to purchase a plane ticket. There were no direct flight options and the path I chose ended up cutting my vacation short by a half day due to mechanical and weather-related problems, but all that aggravation was washed away when I woke up my first morning there to sunshine, 90 degrees and wild deer roaming around the yard. The island is a nature preserve so the deer and other wildlife, pleasantly, have the run of the place.
The vacation included a place to stay in rented homes on Fripp Island, 2 yoga classes and 2 macrobiotic meals each day. There were also options for massage, ginger compress and reflexology treatments. The food was delicious and while I know I couldn't eat a strict macro diet all the time, I was very happy to do it for the week, especially with someone else cooking. I had a great massage in a room at the top floor of the house, next to windows that overlooked the beach. I listened to waves crashing and the sea breeze blowing while getting all the tension worked out of my neck and shoulders. The highlight of the yoga classes for me was that I was finally able to do Wheel pose (putting yourself up into a backbend). I became frustrated recently when I realized I was struggling with this pose, and set a goal for myself to try to do it by my birthday. I made it without much time to spare!
While all these components of the trip were great, the best part was the people I met there. It was a thoughtful, intelligent, creative and friendly group of people - Tara, Linda, Connie, Cecily, Amy, Jean, Frankie, Kevin, Tara #2, Keith, Janet, and, of course, Karin. I very much enjoyed chatting with them at each of our meals. A favorite moment of mine was when we celebrated Jean's 88th birthday not long after she had done a headstand. Go, Jean!
One of the dishes I liked best was a simple baked tofu. But, that was not the only delicious tofu I ate this week. Upon my return home, the sun had come out and it was the non-astronomical start of summer- Memorial Day weekend. We kicked it off with a smorgasbord cookout at Nate and Sarah Joy's place. SJ kindly marinated some tofu for me which was grilled and absolutely delicious. She threw together a marinade and told me the ingredients, but not amounts, so I'll make this and come back with more specifics.
(Thank you, Linda, for some of the photos. The one at the table is the only photographic evidence I was on Fripp Island!)
Grilled Tofu
1 container of firm extra firm tofu, pressed
lemon juice
a little cider vinegar
garlic
galangal
salt
lemongrass

1. Slice the pressed tofu into 1/2 inch slabs and pour the marinade over it. Marinate for several hours.
2. Grill until lightly browned on each side.

Veggie Pot Pie(s)

2011-04-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I faced a moral dilemma. Allow me to provide some background prior to presenting my recent quandary. Susan, who is a long time friend, cycling buddy, confidante, fashion consultant, concert date, advice giver and overall mood lifter is going on her 4th year (or could it be 5th year? where does the time go?) of participating in the Pan Mass Challenge. Those of you in the area will know this is a cycling event fundraiser benefiting Dana Farber cancer research. This event is no easy feat. It requires riding 190 miles over 2 days. But, even more difficult, it requires each rider to raise at least $4,000. You can only acquire so much money from friends and family, so fundraisers need to get creative. Susan and her team, Forza G work hard throughout a large part of the year to acquire donations and bring awareness to the cause. Each spring they kick-off the season at Harpoon brewery with a party and raffle. One of Susan's teammates, Jamie, is a master brewer at Harpoon. He also has taken part in competition barbequeing (Yes, he is a good friend to have, but not only for these reasons. He also happens to be an outstanding person.) Then, their major fundraising effort kicks in - pulled pork sandwich selling. Large amounts of pork are prepared and frozen, then brought to mountain bike events throughout the season to be sold for a donation as sandwiches to hungry riders.
So, here's where my dilemma comes into play. The past two days were the big pulled pork production weekend. Many team members and friends showed up to help out. I went by on Sunday to see what I could do to contribute. I was quite impressed with the operation. They've nailed the process down over the last few years and it runs very smoothly. However, there are not, as it turns out, any "vegetarian friendly" jobs to do. So, I had to make a decision: play with meat, or do nothing. I rolled up my sleeves, pulled on some rubber gloves, dug into a bin of pork butts and began to separate the mounds into smaller pieces. I'm sure I'd offend many fellow veggies with this gesture, but the way I look at it, the meat is going to get "pulled" either way and I am helping out a good friend for a good cause. Then, when the work was done, we kicked back, ate (I had a veggie burger, for the record), chatted and played games.
To repent for my vegetarian sins, I came home and made vegetable pot pie. I haven't made pot pie in quite some time, and I had the idea to make individual pies. I bought 4 small ceramic pie plates, and while I still like the idea of doing this, I went wrong was with the dough. I bought some filo dough, folded a couple of sheets for each pie in half, laid them in the pan, and folded the tops over the mixture. I also brushed oil on so they would brown. The tops were very awkward and also overcooked. I'm not sure if I could've used the filo dough differently to yield better results, or if I should just try a different crust next time. I did like the inside mixture though, so would use that again. This made exactly enough for my four pies.

Veggie Pot Pie Mixture
2 tblspns oil
1 small onion, diced
8 0z mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large carrots, diced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced (I left these out and added peas since I was also having mashed potatoes)
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cups cauliflower, florets
1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups vegetable broth (the recipe called for 3, but that seemed like too much to me)
1 tspn salt
1 tspn black pepper
2 tblspns arrowroot
2 tblspns soy sauce
crust of your choice

1. Pre-heat oven to 425F
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Add onions, mushrooms and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add carrots, potatoes and celery. Cook another few minutes. Add cauliflower, green beans and broth. Stir. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook til veggies are barely tender. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In small bowl, mix arrowroot, 1/4 cup of water and soy sauce. Stir until arrowroot is dissolved. Add to the veggie mixture.
4. Pour into dough lined pan(s). Cover with dough and bake for 30 minutes.

Vegetarian Bog

2011-03-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

A vegetarian and non-vegetarian living together can have its challenges. Todd is a pretty open-minded eater so he'll typically try and/ or eat nearly everything I make, but he just doesn't get too excited about much of it. Left to my own desires, I'd probably cook and eat a bit differently, but I often try to make things that I think Todd will enjoy, even if only a little bit. If he shows interest in something particular I will usually try my best to make it. The recent post of tofu quiche was an example of this. Todd had mentioned he had tofu quiche a while back and actually preferred it to egg quiche.
Last year my friend Catherine had some friends over for dinner, but I was unable to make it due to work travel. Todd went, representing the male race and I heard he did a good job of participating in "girl talk". He came home pretty excited about a rice dish Catherine had made called Chicken Bog. She is from the South so will often make dishes representative of her homeland. On New Year's Day, she brought Hoppin' John, a recipe which I had tried to vegetarianize many years ago. Catherine sent us her Bogrecipe and I did a little poking around on line. This dish is a culmination of what I found and my best attempt to make a vegetarian version. It's a good comfort food type rice dish for a chilly evening. You can keep the spices pretty mellow or give it some heat to suit your tastes.

Cajun Spice Mix

This will make a lot. I scaled it down in proportion. You can scale it according to your own tastes.
2 tspns salt
2 tspns garlic powder
2 1/2 tspns parika
1 tspn ground black pepper
1 tspn onion powder (I left this out)
1 tspn cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tspns dried oregano
1/4 tspns dried thyme
1/2 tspn red chili flakes
(This mixture is quite spicy. Tone it down if you don't like so much heat.)

Bog

1 tblspn canola oil
8 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 small red pepper. diced
2 veggie sausages, chopped (I used Field Roast brand, apple and sage flavor)
cajun spice to taste (the 2nd time I made it, it was a little too kicky. I will just use a little bit next time)

1 small onion, diced
1 large stalk celery, sliced thin
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tblspns butter
2 cups veg broth or 2 cups water and a bouillon cube
1 cup basmati rice

1. In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic. Sautee for 5 minutes, then add rice and mix. Add broth or water and bouillion. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. In a skillet, heat canola oil. Sautee mushrooms, peppers and sausages in as little or much of the spice as you like.
3. When rice is cooked, add to sausage mixture.

Tofu Quiche

2011-03-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

Currently there are many UFIs that seem to have invaded my pantry. You may want to check because you could have some yourself - Unidentified Food Items. If you shop the bulk food section of your grocery store, you probably know what I mean. There are the staple items I use regularly, and those don't cause problems. It's the foods that look similar or are some obscure dried thing that seemed interesting in that moment that cause the problems. Is this chickpea flour, nutritional yeast or some other wheat colored finely ground powder? Barley or farro? TVP or bulghur wheat? And what are these puny dark red pellets? Sometimes I remember to label things, but, more often, I think I'll remember what it is. I just went through my drawer and found several bags of UFIs. Now, I have to decide what to do with them. Do I make my best guess and use them in a recipe only to potentially end up with an inedible meal? In some cases, it won't matter that much - barley or farro are fairly interchangeable. And, if I start tasting things I might be able to narrow down the possibilities. In the past, I know I've thrown some things away, yet I'd prefer to not take the wasteful route. The bottom line is, all of this annoyance could have been avoided with a pen and a few strokes of the hand. Lesson learned.
Tonight's dinner did not involve the pantry. I made an eggless quiche. I considered making it vegan, but once I had the mixture prepared and tasted it prior to baking, I knew it would be too bland, so out came the cheese grater. The tofu really does provide a good replacement for the eggs. The texture and consistency works. Maybe next time I could experiment some nutritional yeast (or chickpea flour or whatever that is) in place of the cheese and find out how that would work. This is a reliable recipe and at least cuts down on some of the dairy.

Tofu Quiche
1 prepared pie crust
8 0z frozen spinach, thawed or 1 lb fresh steamed and water pressed out
1 tblspn oil for sauteeing
1 medium onion, diced small
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz mushrooms sliced (I used baby bella)
1 16 oz container firm tofu
1 tspn dijon mustard
splash of some kind of milk (rice, soy, almond)
1 tspn dried parsley
a few pinches of red pepper flakes
1/4 tspn nutmeg
salt and pepper
cheese to taste (I used sharp cheddar and Parmesan)

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Bake the pie crust for about 5 minutes and remove.
2. Either steam or defrost the spinach.
3. Heat the oil in a sautee pan and cook the onions, garlic, and mushroom over medium high heat until much of the water is cooked off and they are starting to brown. You can add some salt to draw out the water. Add the spinach and blend.
4. Meanwhile, in a blender, mix the tofu, mustard, milk and spices.
5. In a large bowl, blend the tofu and veggie mixtures. Grate in some cheese to taste. Then pour into the pie crusts. I ended up having enough to make almost two quiches, but I added extra veggies.
6. Cook for about 35-40 minutes. Let set for 5 minutes before cutting.

Spicy Kidney Bean and Lentil Loaf

2011-03-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

Recently when I was out to dinner with a couple of friends, they asked if it was difficult for me to find vegetarian options when eating out. In general, the answer is "no", but I also gravitate towards places I know will have something interesting for me to eat. And, by "interesting", I do not mean pasta primavera. In more than 20 years of not eating meat, I can't count how many times the vegetarian option at a restaurant or event has been pasta. I have nothing against pasta and love me a good red sauce, but will usually opt for something else if it's available. It's one thing if I'm in the North End and I know it will be exceptional, but in your average run of the mill restaurant, I don't want to waste a meal on it.
When I find myself in Restaurant Americana, I do have a fallback meal. I will often get the most acceptable salad I can find on the menu, hopefully with something other than iceberg lettuce, and a side of potato (mashed potato, baked potato or French fries). And while we're at it, let's discuss Caesar Salad. I just don't get it. It's lettuce, cheese, croutons usually slathered in an extremely high fat creamy dressing. This is not a salad in my book and I am perplexed as to why people seem to get so excited about it.
Restaurants have come a long way over the years, and I find myself with many more options as I did back in my vegetarian blooming years. And, again, I've also learned where to eat and my palette has become much more ethnically broad. My favorites include Thai, Indian and Vietnamese. Last week I finally visited Red Lentil, a vegetarian restaurant that recently opened in the area. In those situations, I find myself completely overwhelmed since I can eat every single thing on the menu. Typically, I scan the menu for the items I can eat as is, then look to see if any of the others are appealing and could be modified, then narrow my selections from there.
An option I think would be easy for restaurants to offer, yet I never see on a menu is some sort of veggie grain loaf. This particular one is good because besides the bread crumbs, it doesn't have any starch in it, so you can have potato or rice on the side. I've posted another one in the past that's also tasty, but does include rice. Tonight we are having this with sides of mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. The leftovers are great served over salad.

Spicy Bean and Lentil Loaf
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 14 oz can red kidney beans
1 14 oz can lentils (I usually just cook some from dried)
1 egg
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1/2 cup aged cheddar, finely grated
1 cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
1 tspn tomato paste
1 tblspn ketchup
1 tspn each: ground cumin; ground coriander; chili powder
salt and fresh black pepper

1 Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x5x3 in loaf pan.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. When the oil heats, add the onion, garlic and celery and cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and cool slightly.
3. Rinse and drain the beans and lentils. Place in a blender or food processor with the onion mixture and egg and process til smooth.
4. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add all the remaining ingredients and mix well. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.
5. Spoon the mixture in the prepared pan and level the surface. Bake for about 1 hour, then cool and remove from pan.

Comfort Chickenless Soup

2011-02-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

Recently, I took another yoga retreat getaway to Kripalu for some R&R (Reatreat and Renewal). I came back with one major complaint: it was too short. Two of my co-workers and I headed out to the Berkshires with the intention of staying 3 nights. Due to one of the previously mentioned slew of snowstorms we have been having, we were forced to leave early. This made me sad because I was having such a nice time. To give you an idea of the kinds of things you can do there, the following is the schedule of events I chose to take part in on one of the days I was there:

6:30-7:45: Intermediate Morning Yoga
8:00-9:00: Silent breakfast
9:00-10:30: Workshop on Core Stabilization
10:30-12:00: Reading time in the Solarium
12:00-1:00: Yoga dance
1:00-2:00: Lunch
2:00-3:00: Hula Hooping: Flowing through Life class
3:00-4:15: Bought cute yoga dress in gift shop and more reading time
4:15-5:45: Intermediate afternoon Yoga
5:45-7:30: Dinner and hang out
7:30-9:00: Cooking demonstration

During our stay we also did a meditation workshop and took part in a drumming circle. I realize this type of thing may not be everybody's cup of tea, and you might be thinking "that sounds awful", but I really did come back rejuvenated. I find that yoga can do that for me in similar, yet different ways that running or riding perk me up. Last night, for instance, I left work feeling completely droopy and wilted. I could've gone straight to bed to put an end to the day. I had wanted to run, but I just didn't have it in me. I opted instead for a candlelight yoga class. I left with more energy and focus and felt more positive. It's not the same as an exhilarating run or ride when you get that endorphin high. Instead, it's both calming and energizing at the same time.
I recently read an article in the NYT about meditation and how some recent research is showing that it may actually change the brain by increasing the gray matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. I've been wanting to add a regular meditating routine to my day, anyway, and hearing that is good incentive for me. I've talked to many people who have had noticeable behavioral differences from regular meditation. I'll keep you posted on my own routine.
I'd like to share with you one of the recipes I learned at Kripalu, but I haven't made it yet, so instead I'll share this comforting brothy soup, Kriste, a vegan co-worker passed onto me and I've made a couple of times. It's provides comfort very quickly since it's so simple to put together. The original intent by the author, oliviabeans, was to create a Lipton like cup of soup that was vegan friendly. It really works!

Comfort Chickenless Cup of Soup
2 tblspns grapeseed oil
1 small onion, chopped up small
5 cups of water
2 vegetarian bouillon cubes (or 5 cups of broth instead of cubes and water)
3 to 5 tblspns nutritional yeast flakes
1 stalk of celery, sliced thin
Leaves from celery stalk, chopped finely (optional)
1 small carrot sliced thinly
1/4-1/2 cup of small pasta (I used orzo)
1/2 tblspn garlic powder
pinch of celery salt
1 bay leaf
1/2 tspn turmeric
1/2 14 oz can chickpeas (or more to taste). You could also cook your preferred chix substitute like Quorn naked cutlets and chop one of those up and add it at the end.
Pepper to taste

1. In medium pot, heat oil over medium heat and add onion. Cook until starting to brown.
2. Add: 5 cups of water and bouillon cubes. Let dissolve.
3. Add everything else except for pasta and chickpeas. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 7 or so minutes, until carrot is partially tender.
4. Add pasta and simmer until pasta is cooked. Add chickpeas and let heat for a few minutes.

Sauteed Cabbage With a Kick

2011-02-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Could the birthday song be any more boring?
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear xxx
Happy birthday to you.
Really? That's all we could come up with? No mention of the year past or well wishes for the coming year? I just had a quick look on Wikipedia and found that the song originates from the late 180os and is based on the melody of another song, "Good Morning to You" written by a kindergarten principal. I understand that kids are most excited by birthdays and so the song should be something easy for them to learn, but it could be a tad more thought provoking. It's gotten to the point that I can hardly sing it because I find it so lame.
I cannot possibly be the only person that feels this way. And, so therefore, I hope to someday leave behind as my legacy, a new birthday song. I've done a bit of work on this, trying out some new lyrics and/ or melodies and leaving them on friends' voicemail. I have not found the winner yet, but I'll keep working on it.
If I could do this and get more people to enjoy cabbage, I think my life would be well lived. Ok, I do have a few other things in mind I'd like to accomplish, but these two things are on the list. I have brought different variations of cabbage dishes to family holidays because I figure I should start this endeavor close to home. Plus, traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas meals tend to be very startchy, so I like to bring something crisp and light to counter that. This year on Thanksgiving I had brought this dish and wanted to make sure I recorded it, since it's a quick and tasty way to enjoy some shredded cabbage.

Shredded Spiced Cabbage
1 medium onion sliced
1 tblspn grapeseed oil (or another oil good at high heat)
1 tomato chopped, or a big handful of grape tomatoes cut into quarters
1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
big pinch of red pepper chile flakes
1 small head of cabbage, cored and sliced
1 tspn of sea or himalayan salt

1. In sautee pan, heat oil, add onion and let cook for a few minutes. Then add tomato, ginger and pepper flakes. Cook for a few minutes to take some of the moisture out of the tomatoes.
2. Add cabbage (it will seem like a lot) and salt. Stir it together with the other ingredients in the pan. Cover and let cook down. You'll want to cook for 10 to 13 minutes. Do not overcook. If the pan seems dry add a couple of teaspoons of water here and there.

Creamy Potato Garlic Soup (sans cream)

2011-02-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

The last time I can recall snowbanks of this grandeur was the infamous Blizzard of '78. Of course, at 9 years old, I was much smaller so perhaps my perspective is skewed. Snowstorm after rainstorm after sleetstorm and more snow on top of that has brought messy conditions, weekly school cancellations, laborious commutes to the office, difficulty walking on sidewalks and lots of shoveling. It's gotten to the point I've noticed, that us New Englanders who are usually eager to discuss the weather as small talk on elevators or as we pass a neighbor by in the street, can no longer even bear to discuss the elements. People are just exhausted by it and it's only the beginning of February. I heard one psychologist refer to it as "snow fatigue". The relentlessness of Mother Nature is wearing people down and making them irritable. I forget what grass looks like and Spring seems an eternity away.
I often think I should approach this scene as Zuree does. As we head out for our walk three times daily, she is equally enthusiastic each time, as if it's the first. She takes in the scene for a moment and then charges ahead. She takes any conditions in stride and inhales everything there is to see and smell. It reminds me of a Zen-type approach: being in the moment and taking things for what they are. There's nothing I can do to control the weather, so getting upset about it is just an energy drain. I've just got to do the best with what is presented to me. And, often, even though I'm dreading going out in the frigid temps to brave the icy sidewalks, once I get out it can be pleasant and peaceful. It's nice to get some air and move around a bit. So, I'll be keeping this all in mind as I head out, especially for the pre-bedtime walk which is the one I look forward to the least.
I'm guessing the soup intake in this area has gone up considerably over past winters. Here's one I concocted tonight since I was limited to ingredients I had on hand.

Creamy Potato Soup
1 head of garlic, roasted (or more if you like garlic, the flavor was very subtle with the one head)
1 tblspn grapeseed oil
1 medium to large onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 tblspn all purpose flour
4 cups of veggie broth or 4 cups of water and 2 boullion cubes
3 medium potatoes, cut into cubes
1 bay leaf
some dried or fresh parsley
1 14 oz can of cannelini beans
salt
the juice of 1 lemon

1. In a toaster oven or oven, roast the garlic for about 40 minutes on 425. Let cool
2. Meanwhile chop veggies. Then, heat oil in a soup pan. Add onions and carrots and saute until just softening.
3. Add flour and stir constantly for a minute. Do not let brown.
4. Add broth or water and boullion, potatoes, bay leaf and parsley if using dried. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
5. Add cannelini beans, parsley if using fresh, and salt to taste. Let heat for about 5 to 7 minutes.
6. Add lemon juice (up to one lemon depending on your taste)
7. Puree soup. You may find you need to add more water to get it to a consistency you like.

Chickpea and Potato Curry

2011-01-17T19:24:00.000-08:00

It seems I've taken a bit of a break from sharing my thoughts and cooking activity with the internet for the last many weeks. Upon reflection, there were a few reasons for this. There were, of course, the usual holiday related distractions. But also, I hadn't cooked anything I felt excited about, and then a nasty stomach bug got thrown into the mix rendering me completely uninterested in food. At one point, I found myself worried: "What if I never crave any kind of food again and I become satisfied with just eating white rice and with edammame beans and ginger everyday?" But, alas, my appetite returned and I am happily cooking, eating and perusing the several new cookbooks I acquired over the holidays.
I would be remiss in writing this first post of January without reflecting on the past year and speculating about the year to come. 2010 wasn't an outright bad year, but I was left feeling like I wanted more. I didn't achieve anything memorable or grow significantly in any aspect of my life. I'll provide a few of the less personal examples. Athletically speaking, I couldn't do much because of the structural issues I am having with my body. In my worklife, I was busy and got things done, but there was no one big accomplishment that stands out in my mind nor did I feel I learned much to help me grow professionally. And socially, I didn't see enough of my friends. There were some highlights: attending the Children's Book Writing and Publishing class; I finally found a yoga studio I liked and got into a regular yoga practice, and two trips to Colorado after not having been for a while. Luckily, I'm not one of those people who has my memories cataloged by year (It was back in the summer of 1992...) For me, things blend in and I recollect in segments of life, so it's not like 2010 will be burned in my memory as the Year of the Uneventful.
I also don't make New Year Resolutions. It seems a bit trite and resolutions don't have a good reputation. I think read one statistic that 95% of resolutions are given up on by the third week in January. I do have some intentions for 2011. I won't share them all, but I do intend to spend more time with certain friends (i.e. Susan), and I've already gotten a good start on this one. I plan to do something with the knowledge I gained at the above mentioned class from 2010. I have a love affair to re-kindle with my bike(s). I also plan to branch out with my cooking and perhaps take a Thai or curry class.
In the colder weather I find myself craving curries and foods with a heat and "heaviness" in general. After having a vegetable korma at a local Indian restaurant, I found myself wanting more for days after. I tried making one, and it was fine, but it didn't satisfy me in the way the restaurant one did. I also made some curry flavored lentil burgers and those were also ok, if a bit dry. Then I made a lentil loaf with some heat to it, and that was fairly nice. Last night, I finally made a Curried Potato and Chickpea Soup that I found pretty satisfying for the amount of time and effort it took. My friend, Lauri, had sent me a recipe to which I made a few modifications. It's less a soup and more a curry to pour over rice. This batch had a lot of potatoes in it since I was wanting to use up the stash in my pantry that was approaching the end of its little veggie life, so I would want to use less next time, but I do think there will be a next time.

Chickpea and Potato Curry
2 Tblspns olive oil
1 small onion, diced
4 tspns (at least) curry powder
1/2 pound small red skin potatoes cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup veggie broth
1 14 oz can light coconut milk
1 14 oz can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/2 14 oz can diced tomatoes or a big handful of chopped fresh tomatoes
1 cup packed spinach leaves, chopped, or about a cup of frozen spinach thawed
salt to taste

1. Heat oil in heavy medium soup pot over medium heat. Add onions. Cook until just starting to brown. Add curry powder and stir for a minute.
2. Add broth, coconut milk, potatoes, chickpeas, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then turn to a simmer and cook for 2o minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
3. Add spinach and salt. Let spinach blend or wilt. Serve over basmati rice.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

2010-11-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

Recently it occurred to me the importance writing had in my life. I was in Logan airport heading out to the Denver/Boulder area for a quick visit, when I suddenly found myself in a state of panic - I had forgotten to pack a journal in my carry-on bag! I was going to be on a plane for 4 hours with nothing to write on. I had to think quick - was there anything else in my bag I could at least use as scratch paper if I needed to? No. Did I even have a pen in my bag? No. Maybe if I felt the urge, I could just type some notes into my iPhone or iPad. I tried to imagine that. No, that would just not suffice. Before I went through security, I found a bookstore where I purchased a package of 2 pocket-sized turquoise colored Moleskin writing pads and a nice pen and stored them away in my backpack. Aaaaah. Much better.
I began thinking about the role writing played in my life. It's not something I do in a very serious way, nor am I very good at it, but it's hard to think of my life without it. My first diary entry is from December 24, 1977 when I was 8 years old and I've kept some form of a journal ever since. There have been times when I've written more than others, and gaps of time when I haven't recorded much, but it's always been an outlet for me. I use writing to sort things out in my mind. I find I journal more when I'm feeling down, and also when I travel.
Recently, I've considered trying to be a little more disciplined about it, and maybe writing a bit every day, but not just about whatever is going on in my mind. I'd like to try my hand at some fiction. I probably mentioned I took a children's book writing and publishing class that I loved. I still have a manuscript I pull out every so often and make some changes too. I also found a writing class at the local Adult Education program that I almost took this Fall, but decided to hold off til winter.
In the meantime, I recently tried once again to do something I've proven not to be good at - baking. But this time, it wasn't awful. While I was perusing recipes for Thanksgiving ideas, I came across this one for Pumpkin Bread Pudding. Given bread pudding is one dessert that I do like quite a bit, I thought I'd give it a go. I made a few adjustments, but stuck to the recipe the best I could and the results were quite tasty. Vegans and anyone with a heart condition beware - this is not a recipe for you. This may be one of the more fat laden recipes I've ever made. And, as if there wasn't enough dairy already in the recipe, we had leftovers last night topped with some vanilla ice cream. Thank you, cows.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding
8 oz of French bread, torn into small pieces, about 5 cups (I used quite a bit more bread - about 80% of a 16 oz loaf)
2 cups half and half, or half milk and half cream
3 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1 cup dried cranberries
3 tblspns melted butter
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn ground nutmeg
1/2 tspn ground ginger
1 tspn vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350. Butter an 11X7 inch baking dish. (I used a bigger baking dish since I used more bread. I also added a little more milk and a tad more sugar and cranberries.)
2. In a bowl, cover the torn bread with the half and half. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine eggs, sugars, pumpkin, craberries, melted butter, spices and vanilla. Blend well.
4. Pour egg mixture in with bread mixture and blend.
5. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until set.

Three Grain Pilaf

2010-11-21T11:13:00.000-08:00

This morning I tried something new. It's called Nia. I've been wanting to go to the Arlington Center to check out their yoga classes since I can walk there from my house, and my yoga studio doesn't have a class I like on Sunday mornings so it seemed like a good day to venture elsewhere. The schedule just said Nia/Yoga so I went without really knowing what I was getting myself into. Imagine my surprise when I was told I wouldn't really be needing my yoga mat and I could put that aside. It turns out Nia is a combination of dance, martial arts and healing arts. Today's class was to Indian music and it was a lot of fun. Some of the dance moves were reminiscent of the jazz classes I took as a kid. You really have to let any inhibitions go in order to get something out of this kind of class. The focus is on moving and strengthening your body and I don't think there's a part of our body that went unmoved.
This was a good distraction for me since I'm feeling a bit sad about not having raced 'cross this year. I remember feeling similarly at the same time last year after only having had done a few races. It's been a gorgeous autumn - weekend after weekend of pretty Fall days, and as I was putting together the slideshow for tonight's NEBC banquet, I found myself really wanting to jump into the photos to ride my bike on some of those courses.
Last night I did my best to help our friend, Steve, prep for his race today. He came over for dinner equipped with brussel sprouts. In addition to sauteing the sprouts and making some other stuff, I cooked a big pile of grains to help him carbo-load a bit. This is a good basic grain dish that you could add to. It has a nice nutty, buttery flavor on it's own and would be good served with something that has a sauce so it could soak up a bit of that. To use up the leftovers, I sauteed some mushrooms, onions, fresh parsley and peas and added the grains to make a slightly different side dish.
I got this from the Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, and if you're looking for a new cookbook to liven up your collection, I think this is a good one to get. I've cooked a bunch of things from it and haven't been disappointed yet.

Three Grain Pilaf
2 tblsns olive oil or unsalted butter
1/2 cup scallions, white and tender green parts, minced
1 cup white basmati or jasmine rice
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cub quinoa, rinsed
3 cups vegetable stock
3/4 tspn sea salt
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a 2 to 3-quart ovenproof saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the scallions and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice, millet, and quinoa and continue to saute, stirring, for 3 more minutes, or until the grains are fragrant.
3. Add the stock and salt. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the pilaf from the oven and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Butternut Squash and Feta Muffins

2010-11-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

Savory muffins are a new and beautiful concept to me. Apparently, they are popular in Australia and New Zealand. I read about this recipe on my favorite cooking blog, 101 Cookbooks, and she got the recipe from a cookbook, Martha Goes Green. I've made the muffins twice and I ordered the cookbook, which I received the other day. I must admit, the first bite is weird. I am so accustomed to sweet muffins, that I was surprised initially by the taste. But, I quickly got over that. These are great accompanying soup. And just imagine all the other possible combinations. A few things to consider:

I was so focused on browning the tops that I overcooked them the first time, so they were a bit dry.
The second time, trying to avoid them being dry, I added an extra egg, another cup of squash, and I didn't brown them as much. This worked, but I'm not sure if the extra egg was really necessary with less cooking time, but the extra squash can't hurt.
I think these are better just cooked or re-warmed. They didn't seem as tasty when eaten cold.

It's always exciting to get mail that is not a bill or some catalog you've never ordered from. So, imagine my delight when I received this adorable cookbook all the way from Australia, complete with a handwritten note. It's a self published cookbook and the illustrations are playful and a little eccentric. I will be making more from this cookbook soon, so I'll keep you posted. In a few hours I'll be boarding a plane to go to one of my favorite places, Boulder, CO, but I didn't want to leave without sharing these with you.

Note: 11/21 I tried freezing the remainder of this batch to see how they'd fare in the freezer, and they did quite well. I just had one on the side of a salad with pears, cranberries and walnuts. It was a nice combination.

Butternut Squash and Feta Muffins
2-3 cups diced butternut squash
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 large handful baby spinach leaves, chopped fine
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3 tbsp sunflower seeds
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup feta cheese, in small cubes
2 tsp whole grain mustard
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 cups unbleached flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 405 degrees. Toss squash in oil, salt and pepper, then place in roasting pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through and slightly mushy.
2. Transfer cooked squash to large bowl, add spinach, parsley, sunflower seeds, parmesan, feta and mustard. Mix.
3. In separate bowl, beat eggs and milk together and add to squash mixture. Sift flour and baking powder into mixture, add salt and pepper and fold together, being careful not to over mix.
4. Spoon mixture into a greased 12 hole muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Earth Diet Nine Day Challenge

2010-10-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

During my lunch meeting the other day, my co-worker turned to me, looking incredulously at my empty container and said, "Did you actually just eat ALL of that?" She was referring to the ginormous salad which included, among many other things, an entire avocado, that had just moments. Yes, I had eaten all of that. But, I needed to fill up on lots of greens and veggies, because the scope of what I can eat at the moment is pretty limited. My friend, Lauri, and I decided to take the Earth Diet 9 Day Challenge. The premise of this diet is eating things from the earth. Nothing processed. You should eat raw as much as possible. No wheat gluten, no soy, no dairy. No alcohol. No caffeine. (It's partly a detox too. On a longer version of the diet coffee is acceptable. There's also a focus on eating mostly alkaline (vs. acidic) foods.
This last concept is most interesting to me. I've read a little about this, but will continue to explore it. There are those who believe your body won't get sick in an alkaline state, only if it's in an acidic state. I by "sick" they mean cancer, diabetes, things like that. Of course, many things I love (vinegar, condiments) fall into the acidic category. So, I've replaced vinegar with lemon juice to dress my salads (I know, lemon juice seems like it would be acidic, but it's not).
Anyway, I'm on day 5 and I was doing ok up until the little Halloween gathering put on in my division today. I walked in the room and it almost seemed like some sort of cruel joke being played on me. There must have been at least 50 dishes of different kinds of treats, both salty and sweet. Trifle, chips and dip, homemade cookies, bowls of candy bars, chips and salsa - you name it. It was like the office version of Willy Wonka's factory. I daydreamed about floating in the Wonka chocolate river, but in my rendition there tortilla chip plants growing along the river bank and little bowls of salsa floating by on lily pads. I came back to reality and ate my apple.
To try to make myself feel better on my way home I stopped, for the second night in a row, at a raw food cafe that opened last year in Newton. When I was there last night, I noticed they had chocolate pudding (in a raw vegan form) and raw "chips" and salsa. That was what I wanted for my dinner. As it turns out, they only do the chips for lunch, so I got a raw pizza instead. They do a nice job and the presentation is lovely, but let's just say that raw pizza is not for me.
In fact, eating mostly raw is not for me. I have a salad most every day and I think I could get into juicing if I decide to drop $300 on a juicer, but beyond that I think I feel better eating warmed food and cooked grains. I see the benefits of eating raw, keeping all of the nutrients. However, I think especially in the cold weather my body wants warm food. And life without hot soup? No thank you. A couple winters ago, I found myself suffering from acid reflux. When I told my doctor about this and he asked me some questions about what I was eating. I told him I ate a big salad every day for lunch. He said certain Asian food practices say that in the winter when your body is trying to keep warm, eating cold foods can be upsetting. So eating lightly steamed veggies, etc is preferable. I tried that and the acid reflux went away.
Eating raw also makes eating in season difficult. Raw butternut squash? I didn't see that on the menu tonight. The zucchini lasagne I had last night (see photo) was tasty and I could eat that in the summer, no problem. But for now I'd like a steaming bowl of stew.
I had originally planned to post some decadent thing that I can't eat just to show how strong I am, but I just can't do it. Maybe tomorrow...

Tofu Balls with Red Sauce

2010-10-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

While I'm very much enjoying the cooler days and nights, I feel a bit anxious knowing what comes next - lots of darkness. The days are getting shorter and soon we will turn the clocks back, so it's nightfall by 5 p.m. Every year I have a tough time with this. When, at the beginning of November, it's time to get motivated for my evening run or yoga class, I often find it hard to muster up the energy to do so. I eventually settle in and get with some kind of routine, but it's rarely with the same enthusiasm as on a warm summer evening or sunshiney day . And, of course your body does need a little down time to transition into the new season, so I want to honor that too.
This year I'm trying a new tactic. I'm going to try to do the morning thing. My goal is to do some sort of physical activity four mornings a week. So far this week, I've attended two 6:30 a.m. yoga classes and done one short yoga session at home with a run that evening. I know for hard core morning people 6:30 is late - a good portion of the day has already passed by. But for me, being alert, active and social at this hour is a little bit of an effort. I don't mind being awake at that time, it's being out of my comfy bed and out of the house doing something that creates a challenge. Getting to bed early enough to feel rested when getting up before 6:00 is another hurdle. I asked my yoga instructor how many times I have to do this before I'm considered a morning person. She said it's when I no longer think about it. This could take a while.
Someone recently asked if I had a recipe I like for tofu "meat" balls. I haven't made them in a while, but I've used this recipe out of Everday Tofu. I don't really like to refer to veg items as the meat in quotation mark fashion, so I'm trying to think of something else to call them. Tofu balls just isn't right. Tofu spheres isn't necessarily accurate. Todd suggested "medallions", but I'm not sure about that. So for the moment I've landed on "orbs", but I'm open to another suggestion if you have one. Scratch that- I tried "orbs" for a while, but it both looks weird and sounds unappealing, so "balls" it is.

Tofu Balls with Red Sauce
1 lb firm tofu mashed with a fork (soft tofu is easier to mash but I found the orbs to be mushy using the soft)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
2 tsp beef-flavored bouillon (I think I just used veg bouillon)
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning or 1/4 tsp each dried oregano and basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbs dehydrated onion flakes
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 olive or canola oil
your favorite red sauce

1. Mix all ingredients except for red sauce and oil in a large mixing bowl.
2. Form 1-inch balls.
3. In deep sautee pan, heat the oil on medium high heat and brown the balls.
4. Place the balls in a medium sized baking dish, cover halfway with your favorite red sauce and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. (It'd probably be ok to skip the baking part and just add the orbs to whatever you're eating and cover them with sauce.)

Champagne Vinaigrette on Salad with Israeli Couscous

2010-09-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

My evil plan has worked! Mwah ha ha ha. Todd revealed to me the other day that he now likes the iced tea I make for him better than the kind in the bottle! I guess it's not that evil, but it is gratifying. I may have mentioned previously that Todd is not a coffee drinker, but instead has a morning iced tea. Well, early on I became a bit concerned about the amount of things he drinks from a bottle given his Nantucket Nectar's Half and Half usage, and the Vitamin Waters he drinks each day. My concern was with the amount of waste in the bottles. Even though we recycle them, it'd be better to not produce the waste at all. Secondly, I wanted to be able to curb the amount, as well as the form of sugar he was taking in. I made several batches to find the right amounts of tea bags, sugar and lemon to suit his taste. I've been using that same concoction for a while, but I (secretly) cut back just a tad on the sugar every few times. My hope is to wean him down to a less sugary mixture. Next up - a Vitamin Water reduction. Please don't tell him though. This is going to be a more difficult intervention, so my moves will have to be subtle.
Speaking of sweet, here is another salad dressing. A while back, Todd had a salad at the Cambridge Commons he enjoyed so I tried to replicate it at home. The more atypical ingredient was the Israeli couscous which makes for a heartier dinner salad. I tried many dressings before I got one that I think is close to the one at the restaurant. From what I remember, it was equally tangy and sweet. It also had chicken on it, so I use a chicken replacement. We should probably go back and have the salad again if it's still on the menu. I may have morphed it into something completely different over time.

The salad:
Greens of your choice (I usually use green leaf or romaine)
Chopped cucumber
A bit of red onion
Some chopped tomato
Cooked Israeli couscous
Goat cheese
Pistachios or some toasted pine nuts(this is an improvisation to the original)
Quorn brand chicken breast

The dressing:
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tblspn dijon mustard
1/4 cup champagne or white wine vinegar
2 tblspns lemon juice
2 tblspns honey
2 or 3 dashes of hot sauce
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn pepper
1/2 cup canola oil

Corn Chowder

2010-09-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

It's 9:00 on Monday night of Labor Day weekend. This signifies the end of many things. It's the end of a long weekend. It's also the finale to summer - while not yet the autumnal equinox, it's time for the kids to go back to school, and office chairs will once again be full - including mine. My 2 plus weeks of vacation is very quickly coming to a close. I am grasping at the last few minutes here. I realized I never wrote a single blog entry the whole time, so I am doing a little vacation cramming.
My vacation was not necessarily all I hoped it would be, since it was rainy, cold and dreary for four solid days during the first week, but I had a really nice trip to Colorado with perfectly sunny, dry days every day that made up for it. And, most importantly, I was able to fully disconnect from work and relax. In fact, I did such a good job at this that I'm really anxious about returning to a structured lifestyle tomorrow. Just the thought of having to get up, get dressed for work and be someplace at a specific time seems a little on the hectic side to me.
We had many tasty meals while on vacation. Appearing on the list of most memorable for me were the Olathe Farm Corn soup we had at the Timberline Restaurant in Crested Butte and then the Organic Carrot & Thai Red Curry soup from Root Down in Denver. I really do love eating and making soup, which is why I'm so happy that we are embarking on soup weather here. To celebrate, I made some corn chowder yesterday. I originally set out to make a soup like the one we had at Timberline, but I think I became influenced by the book I was reading The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry. It's about a woman who is let go of her corporate type job, and uses the opportunity to follow her dream to attend cooking classes at Le Cordon Bleu. Since many of the recipes discussed were meat stuffed meat or swathed in butter and cream, I think I felt the need to do something at least a bit decadent.
I'd never cooked with fresh corn before, instead reaching for the bag from the freezer. I am now going to try to fit in as many corn dishes as I can before it's totally out of season. Cutting the kernels from the cob was much easier than I anticipated and the effort is definitely worth it.
This is a very basic recipe and one you could add to. I would show you a picture, but yet again, I forgot to take one. Ugh.

Corn Chowder
3 tblspns of butter
1 tblspn olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
1/4 cup all purpose flour
6 cups veggies stock (I used No Chicken broth, non-tomato based)
2 cups heavy cream
2 Russet potatoes, diced
6 ears corn
salt and freshly ground black pepper
chopped fresh parsley (optional)

1. In a soup pot, heat the butter and olive oil on medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and thyme, cook until soft, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Dust the vegetables in the pot with the flour and mix to coat everything.
3. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil.
4. Add the cream and the potatoes. Bring to a boil and boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes start to break down.
5. Cut the kernels from the cob and add to the soup. Add salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10 minutes.
6. If you want add parsley and stir in a bit more olive oil.

French Barley Salad

2010-08-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

After a recent trip to Europe (Brussels and Paris), it got me thinking about Parisian way of life and their lifestyle vs. the average American's. It's not that I haven't thought about this before, but as I am in the process of exploring different ways of eating (i.e. Ayurvedic, macrobiotic, etc), I am considering different elements of all these different approaches that I may want to incorporate into my own. Of course there have been all kinds of things written about why French women are so thin when there are so many rich foods in their diet, and while I haven't read any of them fully, a few of the more obvious points are:
1. Portion control- you can eat rich foods when you're just eating tasting portions of them and not super-sizing everything.
2. Sit down to eat and enjoy your food (sitting in the car doesn't count).
3. Use your feet as your main mode of transportation.

One observation I made was I didn't see a single person walking around drinking coffee out of a to-go cup. In Europe, they sit down and drink their coffee. In addition to taking time to eat/ drink their food, they are also much more "green" there than we are here, so that probably contributes to this factor as well. But, the next time you walk down a busy city street here in the U.S., take note as to how many people are eating or drinking something while they're walking. The same goes for the car. There is quite a bit of mindless consumption that takes place.

I had two of the best salads I've ever eaten while in Belgium, one in Brussels and one in Bruge. The one in Bruge had mozzarella that was so light and delicious it melted in my mouth. In Brussels, Wendy and I were hoping to eat some form of protein that was not cheese. In my experience, this is very difficult to do in Europe. There doesn't appear to be a big vegetarian crowd as far as I can tell. It's not that I didn't adore the toasted goat cheese I had on a couple of occasions, or the aforementioned mozzarella, but I'd prefer to not eat that much dairy. So, when we sat down at Birdie Nam Nam, the cafe in Brussels (can you even stand how cute the name is?) and started to decipher the French menu, I nearly shrieked with delight when I saw "lentils" as part of the ingredients. As it turned out, this was not the best part of the salad. The highlight was these little tomatoes that were either partly dried or partly roasted that were so delicious, I had to ask Wendy to be quiet every time I ate one, so I could have a "moment". Luckily she totally understood, and I did the same for her. I wish I could take some home with me (see the picture at the top if you want to know what they look like). I would take these any day over the many pieces of Belgian chocolate we sampled (I know, this is blasphemy to some.) It makes me sad that I may never eat one of those amazing little bundles of goodness again unless I can figure out how they were cooked.

The consistent element to most of the salads I ate was the simple vinaigrette they were dressed in. You could probably feed me sawdust, but if it was covered in a tangy vinaigrette I'd be happy. As a tribute to the salads I had while abroad, I made this barley salad from the Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special Cookbook. I used cucumber instead of green beans since I didn't have any on hand and I toasted the walnuts instead of cooking them in butter, though I'm sure that would add some nice flavor. Barley is a great base for a cold salad because its consistency holds up very well. I like the chewy texture a lot.

French Barley Salad
1/2 cup raw pearled barley
6 cups water
1/2 tspn salt

Dressing
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/2 tspn Dijon mustard
1 tblspn chopped fresh dill (1 1/2 tspn dried)
1 tspn salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 cup halved or quartered mushrooms
1 cup peeled diced carrots
1 cup cut green beans, trimmed and halved
1 cup thinly sliced red or yellow bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tspns butter
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1. Bring the water to a boil, adding the 1/2 tspn of salt. Rinse the barley in a sieve or strainer. Add it to the boiling water, and cook for about 30 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water to arrest the cooking and put aside to cool.
2. While the barley cooks, whisk together the dressing ingredients and in a small bowl, pour half over the mushrooms and let marinate.
3. Blanch the carrots in boiling water for about a minute. Remove with a slotted spoon,
drain and set aside to cool in a large serving bowl. In the same water, blanch the green beans for 3 to 4 minutes. Rinse in cold water and set them aside (do not add to serving bowl).
4. Stir the peppers and the mushrooms in with the carrots and green beans.
5. In a skillet, heat the butter, when it sizzles, stir in the walnuts so they are coated in butter and begin to brown, then immediately remove from heat.
6. Add the drained barley and remaining dressing to bowl and mix well. Let marinate for 30 minutes. Just before serving add the green beans and walnuts (it's best to add these in just before serving, otherwise the acidity from the dressing will start to soften them).

Carrot Sauce

2010-06-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

What's the opposite of a Domestic Goddess? A "Domestic Delinquent perhaps? Whatever it is, that's me. I suppose I could be worse. There are certain things I get done regularly, like grocery shopping, cooking, and doing the dishes. I could be feeding Todd and I dinners of Ritz crackers and Cheese Whiz from the corner store and letting dirty takeout containers pile up in the sink. But, I could never admit to you the number of times in my life that I've, for instance, thoroughly cleaned a refrigerator , or how regularly I mop my floors or dust. I'm sure there's things I'm should do that I don't even have any idea I should be doing. And, when I do these sorts of things, I'm really not efficient at it due to my lack of practice.
I want to turn over a new leaf, however. Well, sort of. I know I enjoy the house being clean, I just don't enjoy the process or want to take the time to do it. I can ALWAYS find something else to be doing. So, I hired someone to clean the apartment every other week. It took Todd and I a bit to wrap our head around the idea that this was a justifiable thing to do. It is, after all, only the two of us, and our place is small. But, reality is we both work a lot of hours and don't want to spend our weekends taking care of that stuff, so it just doesn't get done at the frequency it should. We've had our apartment cleaned three times now and so far it's great. I know it's a luxury that I won't always be able to have, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. And with the dusting and floor washing done, it leaves me time to be scouring the fridge and all those other things I'll have to figure out. Feel free to advise (Mom). I should also mention here, for the record,that my mother keeps her house very clean, and this is not something I've inherited from her.
But, back to one of my more redeeming household qualities- cooking. I made this sauce specifically to go over some five grain croquettes I made a couple of months ago, but the sauce is versatile and would work well over most grains and some veggies as well. The recipe calls for carrot juice which I had to buy at the store because I don't have a juicer, but prefer to be able to make my own.

Carrot Sauce
2 tspns olive oil
2 scallions, trimmed, white parts thinly sliced
1 tspn finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
sea salt
2 cups fresh carrot juice
2 tspns freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 2-inch strip lemon zest
2 tblspns arrowroot powder
2 tblspns cold water
2 tspns finely chopped fresh parsley

1. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the scallions, thyme, and a pinch of salt. Saute for 1 minute, cover and cook over the lowest possible heat for 5 minutes. Do not let the scallions brown.
2. Add the carrot juice, lemon juice and lemon zest. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 2 minutes.
3. In a small bowl, dissolve the arrowroot in water. Add it to the pan and stir continuously until the sauce thickens. Remove and discard the lemon zest. Add the parsley and simmer for 1 minute. (If you want something with a little more kick, you could add a pinch of cayenne here as well.)
4. Serve immediately or cool to room temperature and refrigerate. The sauce will keep for up to 2 days.

Sweet Potato Walnut Salad

2010-06-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Today was a gorgeous day. I started it with a trip to a farmers market, my first this season. I went with two missions: 1) get some veggies 2)take some portrait shots for this week's photography class assignments. I did just a little of both. I walked away with bok choy, swiss chard, red leaf lettuce, strawberries, a greenhouse tomato, and maybe one portrait shot that I can turn in for this week. Later I was regretting not getting some arugula because it would be so good with some strawberries and shaved Parmesan. Well, maybe next week.
Mike gave me a lesson on shutter speed and aperture amidst the hanging tomato plants and lettuces. It helped a lot, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all. I think it's going to take a while.
Speaking of strawberries, I cannot stand putting them in the fridge, but I also can't stand having them go moldy after a day. Any ideas on this? I came home from the market and had to spend time throwing away some old produce that had gone bad before I got a chance to use it, including some lettuce. Mike also gave me a good suggestion regarding keeping lettuce fresh: put a paper towel in with your lettuce. It will help absorb the moisture and increase the life of the lettuce pretty dramatically. I will try it this week.
Of f to see my parents tomorrow to celebrate Fathers' Day. We will be making this salad as part of our meal. I made it a couple of weeks ago and it was better than I had anticipated. This also came from Moosewood Cooking for Health.

Sweet Potato Walnut Salad
Dressing
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 tblspns white vinegar
2 tblspns chopped sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil (I did not use these)
1 tspn dijon mustard
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tspn ground blk pepper

3 large sweet potatoes (I used 2)
2 cups trimmed and halved green beans
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
salt and black pepper

1. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 3/4 inch cubes. Steam until just tender.
3. Steam the green beans until just tender.
4. In a bowl, toss the sweet potatoes, green beans, walnuts, parsley and dressing.
5. This can be served, warm, at room temperature or chilled. Serve it as a side or over arugula.

Granola

2010-06-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ooooooooooooooooommmmmmmm. I repeated that many times this week, along with lots of downward facing dogs, deep breaths and goddess poses (Kathy M, if you read this, please do not critique the pose I am portraying in the picture. I know it needs work!). For my time off this month, I decided on a practice that's become popular in the sluggish economy - a "staycation". I didn't stay home all week, but I did stay local. I had originally considered going to Boulder to visit my friend Lauri and spend a night at a yoga retreat center outside of Fort Collins, but I traveled a couple of times for work in May and I just didn't feel like getting on a plane again. So, I looked into Kripalu, a yoga center out in the Berkshires, less than a 3 hour drive from Boston. I had heard lots about it over the years and thought it was time I check it out. They offer lots of topical programs that focus mostly on yoga and health, but I decided to just go for the program-free Retreat and Renewal where you can attend yoga classes and other talks and workshops throughout the day.
When I first made my reservations, I booked a three night stay, but then I was hearing mixed reviews about the place, and realized I was going to miss Bike Night at Redbones, so I cut it back to two. I went in with very low expectations, and I think this tactic worked because I ended up having a very nice time. I enjoyed the yoga classes I took, had a couple of healing arts treatments, learned about Ayurvedic practices, sampled lots of the healthy food options, and met a new friend, Jennifer, from Maine.
The first thing I noticed when I got there is that everyone was walking around and looking up, totally aware of their surroundings, meaning they weren't texting or talking on the phone while going from one place to the next. There are very strict rules about where one can talk on a cell phone. Even as a self-proclaimed text addict, I found this to be very pleasant. In many ways they try to draw you into the moment, to be mindful of what you're doing. Even breakfast is totally silent. Imagine being in a large dining hall, with hundreds of people in it, and they are all just eating - not even reading or playing games on their phone. I'm all for technology, but it was nice to have a break. Of course, I'll admit I was playing Scrabble and texting the second I got into my room, but I put my phone away the rest of the time.
I'm not sure if I'll text less now that I'm home, but I am looking to work meditation into my daily routine. I also bought a cookbook to continue my exploration on the topic. You may see some recipes in the near future. Again, I was reminded to eat fresh food as much as possible. While I do a decent job with this, I think I can do a bit better.
Since I had some free time upon my return, I decided to make my own granola. I've been meaning to do this for a while and thought it a perfect task during a staycation. It came out pretty tasty, so here it is. I took it from one of my Moosewood cookbooks (Cooking for Health). I hope you enjoy it. Namaste.

Granola
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey or pure maple syrup ( I used agave nectar)
1 tspn salt
1 tblsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups coarsely chopped nuts
6 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
2 tbslpn brown sesame seeds (I didn't have any, so didn't use)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional, but I did use)

1. Preheat the oven to 325.
2. In a small saucepan on low heat, warm the oil and sweetener of choice. Stir in the vanilla.
3. Place the oats nuts and seeds in a large bowl. While stirring, gradually pour in the warm oil mixture until everything is coated.
4. Spread the granola on an un-oiled baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and stir every 10 minutes or so, until cool to prevent clumping.

Crunchy Quinoa Salad

2010-06-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

I'm in the midst of Birthday Week. So far, I have to say, I'm having a lot more fun celebrating 41 than I did 40. It's not that I had a bad time for my 40th. I think I just felt compelled to do something really memorable and I couldn't decide what that should be so I just became paralyzed with indecision and didn't plan much of anything. This turned out to be the year of the Ipad. I bought Todd one for his birthday a couple of weeks ago, not knowing he had already ordered one for me. It's probably a good thing, because I don't think either of us would be into sharing. And besides receiving that and other great gifts, I'm really enjoying myself. Thursday, my actual birthday, was Mission: Ice-cream. Imagine my delight when I realized one of the flavors for the month at J.P. Licks was fresh banana oreo, just like last year. Todd, Steve and I went for a casual dinner in Davis Square, followed by a calcium fix. To my relief, fresh banana oreo was just as good as I remembered it and I'm going to have to get over there at least once more before the end of the month. Friday was my real birthday dinner. Todd, Sallie, Mike, Catherine and I met at Oleana. I've heard many times how fantastic this place was and made the reservations 2 months ago. I ordered the vegetarian tasting menu and everything was great. I think the table favorite was the falafel appetizer Sallie ordered. Each falafel ball was laid out in it's own adorable little wrap. It's perfect for a special occasion and we will be going back. Hopefully next time we will get patio seating. Tomorrow, I go see Patty Griffin with Susan. We haven't had a music date in a while so I'm looking forward to it. Then, next week, I'm on vacation.
I found this recipe in a newer cookbook of mine, The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. I needed something to bring to a Memorial Day cookout. In the midst of making it I suddenly panicked as I realized, "Oh no, I've done it again. I've made some weird thing that no one will want to eat." As it turned out, my worries were unfounded because most of it was not only consumed, but enjoyed. Sarahjoy, the host, was particularly fond of it. I mentioned her in my last post as I had volunteered to bring a veggie dish to her wedding weekend party. It looks like I will now be bringing quinoa salad instead! It's great for a picnic or outdoor setting because it stays pretty crunchy. Be warned, there are quite a few ingredients, so it requires a bit of time to make, but it's worth the effort.

Crunchy Quinoa Salad
Salad:
1/3 cup hulled sesame seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1/2 cups water
1/2 tspn sea salt
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
Kernels from 2 ears of corn, or 1 cup frozed corn kernels defrosted
1 red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4-6 radishes, trimmed and cut into matchsticks
1 large carrot, grated

Marinade:
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small bunch cilantro (about 1 cup), trimmed, leaves and tender stems chopped
2 scallions, white and green parts, trimmed and sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 garlic clove, minced
sea salt
fresh milled pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Spread the seeds on baking sheet and toast in the oven for 12 minutes or until golden brown (Not too much though! There is a fine line between toasted and burned.) Pour them in a bowl and set aside to cool.
3. In a small saucepan over high heat, bring the 1 1/2 cups of water and salt to a boil. Add the quinoa. When the water returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until all of the water has been absorbed. Spread on a baking sheet to cool.
4. In a pot with a fitted steamer, combine the corn kernels with the red onion. Steam for 3 to 5 minutes until tender crisp. Remove to a colander and chill under cold running water. Drain thoroughly.
5. Make marinade. In a large mixing bowl, combine the vinegar, oil, cilantro, scallions, jalapeno pepper, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, and black pepper to taste. Whisk well.
6. Add seeds, quinoa, steamed vegetable, red pepper, radishes, and carrot to the marinade. Mix well. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to blend flavors.

Brown Rice Curry Salad

2010-04-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new home! I am writing this from my adorable new-used writing desk in our dining room that is actually going to be used to eat in, rather than ride bikes in, set in our cozy little apartment. For all of this, I am very happy. It's a smaller place than our last and we've still got a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, yet already I can feel the "qi" washing over me as we exhibit better Feng Shui. Our new place will be less cluttered and more inviting than Melrose Street. Most of the walls are a pale steel gray vs. the stark white that surrounded us in every room of the old place. This provides a warmer feel. I don't think I realized just how much I didn't like that apartment until now.
We have the best of both worlds with the neighborhood. We are still close in proximity to our neighborhood friends and the fun stuff we could walk to. But the new neighborhood is slightly cuter and so far seems more friendly. It's almost got a Portland, OR feel to it. And, of course, there's my favorite part: a Corgi lives right across the street. I think I scared my new neighbor a bit when I overenthusiastically expressed my joy at the realization that Noodle the Corgi lived that close by, but all seems well now since they've invited us for a barbecue once we get settled. If I can't have my own dog, I'll adopt the ones in the neighborhood for now.
I am giddy with excitement as I anticipate future dinner parties, game nights and conversations that will be had at our new-used dining table. (I've been spending a lot of time on craigslist these days in the furniture section. I'm trying to both be green and save money. I'm trying to be in the moment and enjoy the process of setting up our new place, but I am eager to get back to our regularly scheduled programming. Neither Todd nor I have ridden our bikes in quite a while. The routine I get back to, however, will be a bit different than my old. The injury I've been dealing with has slowed me down quite a bit, but forced me to get yoga in my life and in general I'm re-thinking how to spend my time. My change of scenery is going to bring about some positive changes, of this I am sure.
Over all the move went smoothly and I am thankful for many factors: going from one first floor to another first floor; the rain holding off on the big move day, and mostly, the friends and family who eagerly jumped in to help us. Gary, Juan and our parents all lent a helping hand. The Superstar Moving Help award goes to Nate Gallagher, our neighbor, friend and former co-worker of Todd's. Without his packing and moving skills and his many days of help, I'm not sure where we'd be right now. I only hope we can return the favor as he and Sarah Joy prepare for their upcoming wedding. They are prepping the grounds and doing much of the cooking themselves. I have offered to make some food for them as they have a few other vegetarians attending, and this rice dish is one of the things I plan to make. (Photo added later when I lived up to my word and made this salad from said kitchen!)

Brown Rice Salad
3 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup chopped green onions
1 cup chopped bell pepper diced (I used a mix of yellow and red)
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 carrot, grated
1 green apple, cored and diced
1 cup finely shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup golden raisins

Dressing:
1/2 cup of mayo (can use vegan)
3 tblspns rice vinegar
2 tspns Dijon mustard
2 tspns curry powder

1. Once rice is cooled, mix all salad ingredients, then toss with dressing!

Veggie BBQ Bowl

2010-03-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

For the last few months, I've been looking forward to Mondays. No, I haven't been totally brainwashed by the corporate powers so that I'm eager to get back to the office on Mondays. Rather, I was taking a class about writing and publishing children's books at Cambridge Center for Adult Education in Harvard Square. Oh, how I loved my Monday evenings! The class started at 5:30 so in order to make it on time, I had to leave work before 5:00 which is a rarity for me. The class was made up of a dozen or so people of different ages and backgrounds, all possessing a love of children's picture books. I was so inspired by all their creativity. We each had to write at least one manuscript, read it to the class and get feedback from our peers. Our "guests" included otters, spotted pigs, a fallen baby star, and Little Red Book. Some revealed themselves through poems and others prose, and each was a joy to listen to. We would also bring in and share some of our own favorite picture books. This was how I discovered the fun of Stinky Cheese Man, and other tales by Jon Sciezska.
And the fun didn't end in the classroom. Afterwards, I would head to Le's, my favorite Vietnamese cafe, get a bowl of Pho or a noodle, veggie and tofu plate, and read or write over dinner. Next, I would poke around Harvard Square, hitting a book store or other shops.
I plan to keep working on my manuscripts and hopefully keep in touch with my classmates, a couple of whom I am quite sure will get published. I would like to take another class too, but now that the weather is warming up and it's time to get outside, I may be distracted by other things. I'm also trying to get yoga back into my schedule regularly, so that may be my new Monday night routine.
Between that and the class I was supposedly going to on Tuesdays, Winter Cycling Training Intensive (I wasn't as diligent about making it to this class), I found my weeks busy and I had less time for cooking and menu planning, so I relied on things that I know how to make and/or came together quickly. I think I must've made tomato soup at least 10 times this winter. In my last entry, I mentioned being inspired by The Friendly Toast's BBQ Veggie Bowl. I have made it a couple of times and I still have some tweaking to do to it. For the sauce, I've just been using some Whole Foods brand Steak sauce and a little hot sauce, but I want to find something better. I also think there's potential with what to add to the bean mixture. But, in it's most basic form, it's still a good alternative when you want some comfort food, but don't have the time to bake a Shepherd's Pie.

Veggie BBQ Bowl

4 large potatoes, russet or yukon gold
3 cloves of minced garlic, sauteed briefly in a bit of olive oil
milk, butter or whatever you typically put in your mashed potatoes
salt and pepper
1 14 oz can black beans
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 carrot grated
some kind of steak or bbq sauce
1 cooked veggie burger, per person

1. Peel and cut potatoes and put them on to boil in salted water. Reduce heat once they come to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a sautee pan, heat up beans, corn and carrots in whatever sauce you are using. You will probably need about a half cup. You don't want in swimming in it, but enough to flavor the bean mixture and maybe to wet the mashed potatoes in the bowl.
3. Cook the veggie burgers according to package directions.
4. Mash the potatoes however you like.
5. In a bowl, scoop in a layer of mashed potatoes, topped by a layer of bean mixture and crumble a veggie burger on top.

White Bean Sautee with Roasted Veggies

2010-02-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

We don't eat out all that much, maybe because I don't mind cooking, but I do find eating in restaurants to be a good source of inspiration for recipe ideas. I was reminded of this over the past couple of weeks. First, when we stopped at The Friendly Toast in Portsmouth en route to Maine and I ate a veggie barbecue bowl. If you haven't been to The Friendly Toast, it's fun and funky, and they often add creative twists to casual type food. The barbecue veggie bowl was a perfect example of this. It was basically an unbaked, updated vegetarian version of Shepherds Pie. Our other recent meal out was at Flora, our neighborhood fine dining venue, where we visited for a belated Valentine's Day meal. It's only our third visit there, but we've had an excellent experience each time. There I had a white bean cassoulet with roasted root veggies, wild mushrooms and greens. I have since made versions of both of these.
At the risk of being boring, I will post the white bean dish even though my last post featured the same main ingredient. But, I am loving cannelini beans these days and I want everyone else to feel the love! Perhaps it's because I eat so many black beans and chickpeas (of course), that they are a nice change. But they really do have a nice texture and lend themselves well to fragrant herbs. When I researched cassoulet recipes I found they were more like soups and included sausage as well as beans. The dish at Flora was definitely not soupy. I also wanted to include some Israeli couscous since I thought that would add some nice texture and make a heartier meal. I'm not totally sure what they had for roasted veggies, but I'm pretty sure they had some butternut squash and turnip in there. I used white and sweet potato and a delicata squash. If you've never had this kind of squash, you MUST try it. It's nutty and light, not as sweet as butternut, and you don't have to peel it. (And you may already know how I feel about peeling butternut squash. Just for the record, I would still adore delicata squash, even if it needed to be peeled.)
I originally thought I would assemble all the three pieces after each had been cooked, then bake it for a bit. But in the end, I decided not to. Instead I just layered them in a bowl and served. It's still not quite what I want, but it was tasty enough that I would make it again. I will still go back to the drawing board though and see what I can come up with.

White Bean Sautee with Roasted Veggies

Bean sautee:
1 tblsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 large or 3 small ribs celery, diced
4 cloves garlic
2 14 oz cans cannelini/ white kidney beans
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 cup veggie broth
a few leaves of kale, de-stemmed and chopped
2 tblspns dried herb de provencal or a mixture of thyme, sage, oregano and a bay leaf

Israeli couscous:
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 1/4 cup veggie broth

Roasted Veggies:
2 tblspns oil
4ish cups of a mixture of good roasting veggies diced (I used white potato, sweet potato delicata squash and crimini mushrooms
1 tspn sage
salt and pepper

1. Toss the veggies to be roasted with the oil, sage, salt and pepper to taste. Place in a baking pan and roast at 425 for 40 minutes or more til tender, tossing every 10 minutes or so.

2. Heat oil for bean sautee in a large sautee pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garic. Cook five minutes until soft. Add beans and herbs, toss for a couple of minutes then add broth and tomatoes and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. At the end, you just want a little liquid left in the pan, so you may find you'll need to add more broth. You all may want it more tomatoey, but I wanted the tomato to be subtle.

3. Bring the couscous and broth to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer covered for 10-12 minutes, until broth is absorbed.

4. After the bean sautee has been simmering for about 15 minutes, add the kale and put the lid on the pan.

5. On serving dishes, ladel a layer of beans, then a layer of couscous. Top with roasted veggies.

Pasta with Cannelini Beans and Spinach

2010-02-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

While my lack of blogging might indicate a lack of cooking, that's not necessarily so. I have recently purchased a couple of new cookbooks after not having bought any for quite some time. I am finding them inspirational. It's time to take my cooking up a notch and I'm confident these books can help me. I got another Moosewood: Cooking for Health. I've made several dishes from that so far. I also just received Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. I spent some time reading it yesterday, but haven't cooked anything from it yet. The author gives a lot of great tips and explanations and so far, I like what I see.
I've also had a fairly busy schedule. On Mondays I am taking a class in Harvard Square on writing and publishing childrens' books. On Tuesdays I do a cycling/ core strengthening class at the Training Room in Somerville. Wednesday nights is group trainer workout in Cathy and Mike's basement with potluck dinner after. Thursdays I usually work late and do a run. Then, we're back to the weekend. There hasn't been much time for experimenting in the kitchen, so I've been falling back on many of the usual suspects.
I'm pretty sure this dish could become a regular. It's one of those things you can make even if you haven't made it to the grocery store in a bit, because you'll have everything on hand in the pantry or freezer. You'll note that the recipe calls for a 1/4 tspn of salt. Due to a little mishap, I put about 6,ooo times that amount into the pan. As I was shaking a "bit" of salt in right at the end of cooking, the lid came flying off, dumping the entire contents of the container onto the pasta. After hearing some expletives emerge from the kitchen, Todd came running in thinking I had perhaps caught my hair on fire. When he saw what actually happened, he said, "I know you're upset, but you have to admit, it's pretty funny. We should take a picture of it." So we did and then we salvaged a portion of it. I guess if you spend enough time in the kitchen, you're going to have days like these. And, I now understand why on cooking shows the chefs pick the salt from a little bowl and sprinkle it on with their fingers. Lesson learned.

Pasta with Cannelini Beans and Spinach
10 oz frozen chopped spinach
8 oz of fusilli or rotini pasta
1 tblsp olive oil
1 small onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
pinch red chile pepper flakes
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can cannelini beans
1 tspn dried oregano
1 tspn dried basil
1/4 tspn salt
1/4 tspn ground pepper
a few tblspns feta, parmesan or asiago cheese

1. Cook the spinach. Heat it according to package directions, drain it and press out the excess water. (If using fresh, wilt in some boiling water, drain press excess water from it and chop it coarsely.)
2. Cook pasta according to package directions.
3. Heat oil in a sautee pan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and chili pepper flakes. Cook for a few minutes until the onions are soft. Add tomatoes, beans, and spices. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, uncovered, until liquid is reduced. Add spinach and pasta. Let simmer for a couple more minutes. Serve in bowls and top with cheese.

Cheesy Penguins

2010-01-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

My effort to incorporate pictures on my blog isn't going very well. It's not just food I'm neglecting to photograph, but pretty much everything else too. Todd and I got this great new camera, a Canon PowerShot SD970 IS Elph which makes picture taking a much better experience than with our old cameras. I think I just got so out of the habit of taking pictures that I'm having a hard time getting back into it. Also, when I look at other cooking blogs, they seem to have really nice kitchens and cookware which makes a pleasant backdrop for the food. Our ghetto kitchen and boring dish set, not so much. However, I am inspired by some of the fantastic photography on these blogs and that of some of my photographer friends, so I will continue to make an effort. This website was the inspiration for the cocktail penguins we brought to a Three Kings party last night.
http://arecipeforaperture.blogspot.com/
These little penguin guys were kind of fun to make. It was like being veterinary chef, operating on these little food animals. They rated pretty high on the cute factor, and in that sense were a hit at the party. They taste o.k., but were mostly just a fun food item.
Earlier in the day we had some fun photographing our city pet filling himself up on the various snacks we left out for him. I think his favorite were the almond crescent cookies I put out, but he had eaten the whole thing before I could get it on film. I was hoping he'd have some confectionery sugar dotting his face for a photo.
If anyone has anymore ideas for animal foods, pass them along. I'm thinking there's got to be something you could do with cherry tomatoes.

Cheesy Penguins
Cream cheese
Goat cheese (one with garlic and herbs is good)
1 can of black olives (I think canned works best since they are firmer)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
cocktail toothpicks

1. Mix up some cream cheese and goat cheese to taste. You don't have to use goat cheese, but it gives a better flavor.
2. Slice the carrots, not to thin and not too fat. Cut a triangle out of each one. The triangle will be used for the beak.
3. Slice open an olive and stuff it with the cheese mixture. This is the hardest part. It's difficult to do without getting the cheese everywhere. I tried several different gadgets to perform this surgical procedure.
4. Assemble the head, body and feet with a toothpick and insert the beak.

Applesauce

2010-01-06T19:14:00.000-08:00

In Led Zeppelin's song Over the Hills and Far Away, Robert Plant muses, "Many times I've wondered how much there is to know." I can relate to this. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by how much there is to know, and just how little of it I do know. Further, I get frustrated by my limited capacity, time-wise, resource-wise and ability-wise to learn (and do) more. For instance, tonight on Fresh Air, George Lucas was being interviewed and he was asked about the mythology behind his films. He explained how he was an anthropology major in college and became interested in the psychology supporting the myths and when creating films he was exploring whether that psychology still resonates in current culture. He was also discussing that mythology is really storytelling. I'm probably misrepresenting precisely what he was saying, but the point is that while listening, what was going through my head was: I would love to be able to study anthropology and know more about various cultures; I would like to read mythology and be familiar with more of the classic myths. I remember being really interested in the little mythology I studied in grade school; I would like to pursue storytelling as an art form. I took a workshop a few years ago, but never did anything with it. Then, in this typical line of my thinking comes the part where I get frustrated thinking that at my job, while I learn knew information, it's nothing terribly interesting and I feel like I'm getting dumber by the day, rather than smarter and wiser.
The next step in this thought progression is usually my getting down on myself for not being disciplined in using my free time more productively - studying and researching (formally or informally) the litany of topics I'd like to explore. On the contrary, I end up being less scheduled than I could be and just falling back on the usual suspects to fill my time: biking, running, cooking and reading fiction (with the smattering of non-fiction mixed in). It's not like I'm spending hours wasting time in front of the t.v. or anything, so I suppose I could be far less productive,but I have do my time wasters: flitting about the Internet and playing my favorite iPhone app of the day (i.e. Boggle). I guess I long to possess a little more Type A personality, and be a morning person, as I've mentioned before (I think they probably go hand in hand), but I'll have to work with what I've got and make the best of it.
When I do make a meal that is spontaneous, creative, tasty and efficient all at the same time, I must admit, I do feel a good sense of accomplishment. This very thing happened the other day when I made potato pancakes from leftover mashed potatoes, applesauce from the softening apples that were no longer good to eat on their own, and a tasty side salad to use up the greens in the fridge. I was just about to throw away half a bag of McIntosh apples when it dawned on me that applesauce would be a good accompaniment to the pancakes. It cooked so quickly and did work well with the meal.

Applesauce
3 to 4 lbs peeled, cored and quartered apples (not all apples are good for cooking, but McIntosh, Fuji, Granny Smith and some others work well.)
4 strips of lemon peel
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
up to 1/4 cup white sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 cup of water
1/2 tspn salt

1. Put all ingredients into a large pot. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
2. Remove from heat, take out lemon peel, and mash with a potato masher or a couple of whirls of an immersion blender.

Would be good warm over vanilla ice cream or put it in fridge for a snack all on its own!

Winter Squash Soup

2010-01-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

Butter totally rocks.

I'm finally figuring out that this is one of the reasons why everything in nice restaurants taste so much better than my own cooking. They put butter and cream in pretty much everything. While I don't choose to cook like this all the time, it's a nice treat once in a while. On Christmas day, we chose to stay home and have a quiet day by ourselves. We also defied tradition in a few other ways. I didn't put up a single Christmas decoration (cutting back from the few I scattered about last year), and we didn't partake in much gift giving. I exchanged gifts with a few friends and Todd's parents gave us gifts, but other than that, we abstained. I must admit, I really enjoyed it. I had more appreciation for the few gifts I did get and it made the holidays a little less frenetic. I plan to do the same next year. We also went to the movies on Christmas evening at the Boston Common theatre to see Sherlock Holmes with my friend, Sallie, and her three boys. It was a nice way to end our non-traditional Christmas.
For our quiet dinner at home I had planned to have a romantic candlelit atmosphere, and make something decadent, outside of my usual simple repertoire. I searched around trying to find something French and vegetarian, but couldn't find anything to get terribly excited about. As the day drew closer, I had settled on a menu that was far less intriguing than I had intended and then the day of, that got scaled back even more since we ended up in a bit of a time crunch due to unexpected activity. So, no candlelight, and we rushed through our rather standard type meal.
The only thing I did do a bit differently was to use butter and cream in both the mashed potatoes and the soup I made. The soup was from the Pickety Place cookbook, a cute, homey type restaurant in NH with lots of savory dishes that Todd took me to when we were first dating.
Normally, I would make the same type of recipe without the butter and cream, but I went for it and the results were good. It reminds me, I would like to go visit Pickity Place again (hint, hint Todd).

Winter Squash Soup
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 large Spanish onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups veggie broth (non-tomato based)
3 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 cups acorn squash, peeled and diced
1 tspn fresh thyme (remove leaves from stem and mince)
1 tspn fresh sage, minced
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tspns brown sugar
Salt and white pepper to taste

1. Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Add broth, herbs and squash. Cook on medium heat until squash is tender, about 20-30 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Let cool a bit and puree until smooth. Whisk in cream and brown sugar. Reheat on low, being careful not to scorch cream.

Black Bean Butternut Squash Chili

2010-01-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

Happy twenty ten! I am writing this entry as a means of avoiding the cleanup from yesterday's Chili New Years Day Ride/Party. Our day started with about 30 more degrees than it did last year. Despite that, we actually had fewer people join us for the ride. There were 10 serious competitive cyclists and me, for a total of 11. Last year we had at least 13. While last year's ride was frigid and in the snow, it sort of evened out the playing field a little better. Yesterday's ride was mostly spent with me falling off the back and the rest of the group waiting up for me at the tops of hills. After about 90 minutes of this, I begged the group to go on without me while I toodled back on my own. Pathetically, I was actually lost for a while in the sense that I had no idea where I was even though I was about 5 miles from my house. In the end, it was good because I found a new way home from Lexington and I realized I get stuck in the same routes and need to venture out. I will look forward to some new roads in 2010.

Another 20 or so people eventually joined us back at the house for some food, hot cider, conversation and Rock Band. Typically, Todd has made two versions of the same chili (see last year's post), one with meat and one without. This year I decided to venture out and make a vegetarian chili that was distinct from the other. I chose this recipe because it was a bit sweeter, and doesn't have as much heat, to have an offering for people who want something a bit more mild. Apparently it was good. I never actually got around to trying it, but several people commented on it. The basic recipe has very few ingredients and you can use this as a base to play around with. I added corn, carrots and some cider vinegar. You could sub sweet potatoes for the sqaush and kale or spinach for the chard. Add more spices if you like. Topping this with fresh cilantro would probably taste great.

Black Bean Butternut Squash Chili
2 tblspns olive oil
2 1/2 cups chopped onion
3 cloves garlic
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and chopped into half inch pieces
2 tblspns chili powder
2 tspns ground cumin
1/8 tspn cayenne (more if you want heat)
3 15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 1/2 cups veggie broth
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
3 cups packed of roughly chopped swiss chard

Other stuff I added:
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 carrot, sliced
1 tblspn cider vinegar

1. Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic (and carrot if using). Saute until tender and golden, but be careful not to burn - about 7-9 minutes.
2. Add squash, stir. Cook about 2 more minutes.
3. Add chili powder, cayenne and cumin, and mix.
4. Add tomatoes, broth and beans. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat, and simmer until squash is tender about 15 minutes.
5. Add chard or kale and corn (if using). Cook about 5 more minutes until greens are tender.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste and cider vinegar. Blend and serve.

Pear Salad with Walnuts and Greens

2009-12-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

Last night, we went to see our friend Tom in his latest stage performance: Osacar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband". Prior to the movie, we had our friend Steve over for a casual dinner. I told him to keep his expectations low, since I was just serving the Minestrone and some salad. When Todd and I took a walk in the late morning to get our daily weekend infusion of coffee (hers) and mini blueberry scones (his), we stopped at the corner grocery. It's a little market with a Greek influence and I occasionally go there when in need of a head of lettuce. I noticed yesterday that the pears looked nice, so I picked out one of those as well. Later, when trying to decide on a salad for dinner and wanting to incorporate the pear, I realized I needed some cheese and a few other things. I was about to hop in the car and head over to Whole Paycheck when I decided it was both more efficient and socially responsible to instead walk back to Christo's, the corner store. Here, I picked up some Feta, a French baguette (apparently imported daily from the North End), seltzer, and a custom cut piece of Parmesan wrapped in a piece of wax paper, the price written on it with a Sharpie. I was enamored by the cheese in the wax paper. It seemed so Old World to not have something wrapped up air tight.
In addition to the salad lending itself well to the sustainability of my community, it was also a nice accompaniment to the soup. I think gorgonzola may have been a better choice than the feta since it would pack a little more punch. For the record, I only had a tiny bit of cheese on mine as part of my detox (see last post).

Pear Salad on greens
1 head of butter, red or green lettuce, torn into small pieces
2 handfuls of walnuts, toasted
1-2 pears, sliced
1/8 cup red onion, sliced thin
1/2 cup crumbled feta, gorgonzola or bleu cheese

Dressing
1/2 cup salad oil (canola)
3 tblspns apple cider
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tspn celery seed
1/2 tspn salt
dash pepper

1. Divide the salad ingredients amongst 4 -6 plates
2. Put the dressing ingredients in a jar with lid and shake till well blended. Pour over salads.

Minestrone Soup

2009-12-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

My original plan was to come home from England on Friday, and do the last 'cross race of the season on Saturday. I knew I wouldn't be in the best of shape, after switching time zones and not having had much time to run or ride while there, but figured I'd just go out and have fun with it. Unfortunately, I was in much worse shape than I even anticipated. After having almost no sleep for 6 out of the 8 nights there, getting sick partway in as a result, not being able to exercise, and having a not so great diet, I was totally wrecked by the end. I spent most of yesterday, my first day home, walking around in slow motion, trying to accomplish little things, but too foggy to do so. Probably adding to this, it's the first time it's been really cold this year. When I left, we were embarking on unseasonally high temps at almost 70 and when I got home it was in the 20s. I think this blast of cold added to my body's need to bring things down a notch, so there was no racing for me. Instead, I am going to slowly ramp back up into running and riding, and spend this week having a "casual" detox. My diet last week consisted mostly of dairy, pasta and bread. This week I will focus on vegetables and grains and try to eat as little of the aforementioned as possible.
The second I stepped out of the airport Friday evening and felt the cold wind, I knew I wanted some soup to soothe my soul. I stopped at Whole Foods on my way home to get a few veggies to make some minestrone. I got a mix of things, versus sticking to one season. Upon consulting my Moosewood Daily Specials cookbook and seeing they had a minestrone recipe for summer, autumn, winter and spring, I realized that I would like to stick to seasonal veggies and spices next time. But, for now my standard mix n' match minestrone would do. The trick is to not put too much of any one thing, especially something with a stronger flavor, like broccoli. There are many variations to the veggies I will add (often using green beans which I did not for this one). I could've sworn I had blogged this before, but couldn't find it, so here it is.

Minestrone
1 tblsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced or sliced, however you like it
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 small russet potato, diced
2 cups water
4 cups veggie broth
1 tspn oregano
1 small zucchini, sliced and cut in half moons
1/2 cup small pasta, such as orzo or elbows
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 14 oz. can kidney beans
4 or 5 leaves of kale or swiss chard, chopped
1 tblsp red wine vinegar (or red wine)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1. In soup pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic. Sautee for 5 minutes.
2. Add tomatoes, broth, water, oregano and potato. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. Add zucchini and pasta. (I sometimes cook the pasta separately, especially if I'm using elbows, and then add it when I'm serving at the end. Otherwise, it gets really soggy in the leftovers.) Simmer for 10 more minutes.
4. Add peas, kale or chard, vinegar, kidney beans, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 10 more minutes. Serve.

Todd's Sweet Tea

2009-12-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It includes all the components for a perfect weekend. I get four days to cook and eat a lot, and spend time socializing with family and friends who I don't necessarily see a lot. I usually start Thanksgiving day with a running race, and the weekend typically includes some other bike riding and running activity as well. The one sketchy factor is the weather. I can remember being at running races where it was 20 degrees and snowy, and other times where it was 65 and sunny, and everything in between. But, alas, the weather is always unpredictable. This year it was gray and rainy for much of the weekend.
Not only was the weather dreary, but my food contributions for the weekend left much to be desired. We had Thanksgiving dinner up in Maine with Todd's family. I did help with some of the peeling and chopping, but my only addition to the meal was a salad, which was nothing at all exciting. Just the usual greens with cranberries, apples, walnuts and feta with a balsamic dijon vinaigrette. Yawn.
Then, on Sunday we went to the annual Turkey Hoist party started by my friend, Eugene. This year it was hosted by Keith and Michelle at their lovely refurbished home on a lake in Ayer. Lauri, who was visiting from Colorado and needed a little break from family time, accompanied us. According to my last name, I was supposed to bring an appetizer or side dish, but since I thought we'd be late, I instead brought a dessert. This was a bad decision on my part because we got there right on time for dinner, there weren't enough side dishes and my dessert was terrible. I would have totally enjoyed making some fun grain or potato dish, and instead made a slightly healthy pumpkin dessert and didn't enjoy the process, nor the outcome. I still haven't quite gotten over this, but I figure writing about it may help purge my bad feelings of missed cooking/ eating/ sharing opportunity.
Since I emerged from the weekend without a fun recipe to share, you will instead get the iced tea recipe I make for Todd. This is mainly because I am about to leave to London for 8 days, leaving Todd tea-less for much of it, and he may try to make it himself. Todd likes his tea much sweeter than I do. It took me many tries to get just the right tea/sugar/lemon combination to get it just the way he likes it. I've tried using honey and also agave nectar for sweetener, but it seems he likes the cane sugar the best. The pitcher we have makes a four day supply for him, and since I made one last night, he should be out by Saturday. You can check in with him to see if he makes more or opts for a Nantucket Nectars Half and Half from the convenient store up the street...

Sweet Todd's Sweet Tea
10 black tea teabags
2/3 cup sugar
juice from 2 lemons
24 oz boiled water
24 oz cold water

1. Boil water, then let sit in kettle for a few minutes to cool down just a bit.
2. Pour hot water into pitcher over tea bags. Let tea steep for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Add sugar slowly and stir to help dissolve.
4. Squeeze lemon juice into mixture being careful to not get any seeds (using a lemon squeezer gadget comes in handy here).
5. Add cold water and chill for 8 hours before drinking.

Tempeh and Potato Curry

2009-11-23T19:06:00.000-08:00

I have to admit it - yesterday while I was putting together the photo slideshow for my bike club's yearly banquet, I felt some slight pangs of regret and was wishing I had raced a little more this season. As I browsed photo after photo of crazy cyclists jumping barriers, running up muddy hills with their muddy bikes hoisted over their muddy shoulders, and navigating tight corners on a wet, off-camber hill, it made me a bit sad that I didn't get to do that more. The affect cyclocross can have on you is a mix between using crack and giving birth - it's wildly addictive and you quickly forget the severe pain when it's over and want to do it again very soon.
There were several reasons I didn't do many races this autumn. I was intending right from the start to not let it consume the whole season. Last year, Todd and I spent nearly every Saturday and Sunday at races and we were pretty wiped out by Thanksgiving, so I didn't want to repeat that. Also, this year Todd stopped racing early on, and I must admit, it was certainly much more difficult to get out of bed really early on a weekend to drive an hour and a half to a race on a rainy day all by myself when he was all warm and snuggled under the comforter, still sleeping. At some point, I also got myself all worked up and nervous about it and was a little low on confidence, which squelched my motivation.
I could go on with reasons (a.k.a. excuses), but I won't. The upside is that I really did do some fun things in lieu of races and spent time with some folks I may not have otherwise. Susan and I had a couple of great mountain bike rides at Great Brook. Just last Sunday, Mike and I spontaneously went to a matinee after I chose at the last minute not to race that day. I can't remember the last time I went to the movies during the day. Then I came out to a cleared up sky and took my new single speed out for a spin. I had a few play dates with Sallie. I killed most of one Saturday reading a book, etc. etc.
I only have the opportunity to do 1 or maybe 2 more races, given my trip to England next week. And I'm not going to dwell in the past or let regret root itself inside of me. I am, instead, going to be appreciate the fact that I have so many options and the freedom to do all these wonderful things.
This past weekend was a great example of just that. Saturday was gorgeous and I raced at Shedd Park in Lowell. On Sunday, I had a fantastic run around Mystic Lake under grey and chilly, yet exhilarating skies. In the evening, I went to the banquet where I felt in awe of the size of our club and the great people that are part of it. Tonight, a little tired, I had a mellow evening and cooked this curry dish, perfect for a rainy, cold almost winter day.
This curry sauce comes together so quickly. I will definitely be making it again.

Tempeh and Potato Curry
1 lb small waxy potatoes, no bigger than a small lime, cut in half
2 tspns sea salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
scant 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups green beans, trimmed, chopped into 1 inch pieces and blanched

8 ounces tempeh, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
a small handful of cilantro, loosely chopped

Note: I tried adding coconut milk in place of cream and that works well. Not necessary, but nice addition.

1. Using a steamer, salt the potatoes with a teaspoon of the salt and steam the potatoes until tender, 20 to 30 minutes, depending on size
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet melt the butter in the olive oil over low heat, add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft
3. Add the cayenne, curry powder, turmeric and cumin seeds. Stir for about 30 seconds then add tomatoes, water, and remaining salt. Let simmer for a few minutes, then remove from heat and puree. You could whirl in a little cream here if you wanted.
5. Put back in the skillet, add the tempeh and let simmer on low. When the potatoes are done, add them along with the green beans. Blend and serve sprinkled with cilantro.

Risi e Bisi

2009-11-12T06:27:00.000-08:00

Uh oh. I think I just entered a new phase of addiction. I am working from home today and took a walk up to Quebrada Bakery to get my morning coffee. I got in line, and when I was asked what I wanted, I ordered a MEDIUM coffee. This came out of nowhere. It wasn't pre-meditated. Is this how it happens for other addicts? Upon reflection, it seems my addiction phases have gone something like this:

"Social" coffee drinker: I'd have one here or there, if I was with a friend having a coffee or if I felt super tired at work, or I knew I needed a second wind to be up late.
Every day, aspiring coffee drinker: I got a coffee every day, but couldn't finish a small. There'd always be a 1/4 or 1/3 left in the cup, gone cold. This lasted a couple of years, I think.
Wanting to quit: I decided I didn't like to be an every day coffee drinker, and I should drink green tea instead. I tried that a few times, but never got around to really quitting.
Every day, full small: Most days, I finished my entire small. This has been going on for months.
Medium-sized coffee drinker: Day One. I'm not even sure I'll finish it yet. It just scares me that I even ordered it.

I still don't put sugar in my coffee, so I have that going for me, and I only have one a day. But, maybe this is a sign? If I don't stop now, will I be a three a dayer in another year? Where will it end?

On a lighter note, I bought a new cookbook: Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special. It's all soups, stews and salads - my favorite things to make! This is the first recipe I've made from it. It's very simple, only a few ingredients, similar to the brown rice, greens and cannelini bean dish I make, but this is more risotto-like. It's a good option if you feel like risotto, but don't feel like all the stirring.

Risi e Bisi
1 tblspn butter
1 tblspn extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
8 cups veg broth (the tomato-less No Chicken kind)
1 tspn salt
1 cup raw arborio rice
2 cups baby peas or frozen petit pois
2 tblspns chopped fresh parsley
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Warm butter and olive oil in a soup pot until the butter melts. Add the onions and sautee on medium heat for about 10 minutes until golden.
2. Add the stock and salt and bring to a boil. Stir in the rice, lower to a simmer, cover and cook 20 t 25 minutes until rice is tender.
3. Add the peas and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Serve immediately and top with remaining cheese.

Three Bean Chili with TVP

2009-10-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

My hives and I just recently reached our one year anniversary. I didn't feel much like celebrating. While they are much better than they were a year ago, or even a few months ago, I'm tired of battling itchiness. I've tried many, many things. There's still a lot of evidence pointing to the culprit being something in my house since they started not too long after I've moved here. I've got a suspicion that they've got something to do with mold. So, now, I'm trying to think beyond environmental mold and pay attention to what I eat that would be considered "moldy". Well, it's pretty much everything. Since that is overwhelming, I at least decided to cut out a couple of more obvious sources. One is Quorn products. They are made out of mycoprotein which is a fungi/mushroom. We were eating Quorn about 2-3 times a week, and I read an article about how some people were having a hard time digesting it, so I figured I'd experiment with taking it out of my diet for a bit. I am now trying to find replacements. The Quorn crumbles worked well in several things I made. I'm playing around with TVP (textured vegetable protein) to see how we like it. I made a chili with it recently and thought that came out pretty good.

Three Bean Chili

1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tblspns red wine
water
2 cups dry TVP
1 tspn oregano
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup chili powder
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 10.75 oz can tomato puree (I think I may have used a 14 oz can)
1 14.5 oz can kidney beans (drained)
1 14.5 oz can pinto beans (drained)
1 14. 5 oz can black beans (drained)
1/4 tspn crushed red pepper
1-2 tspns salt
3 tblsns cider vinegar

1. Sautee onions and garlic in a little red wine and water (use canola oil in place of wine and water if you'd rather)
2. While onions are cooking, reconstitute TVP according to package directions (usually 1:1 ratio TVP to boiling water)
3. After onions are soft, mix in oregano, bay leaves, TVP, chili powder, tomatoes, tomato puree and beans.
4. Simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally
5. Add red pepper flakes, salt and vinegar to taste. Cook 15 more minutes.
6. Serve over rice, or on it's own.

Quinoa Spinach Cakes

2009-10-25T19:18:00.001-07:00

As if making up for the dreary Saturday we had yesterday, Mother Nature bestowed upon us a most spectacular autumn day today. It was one of those days where the light was amazing and everything looked like it should be on a New England postcard. I spent the day at Harold Parker State Forest in Andover for the Wicked Ride of the East, a mountain bike ride organized by NEMBA. There were so many "postcards" all around us. The light was shimmering on the many ponds we passed. The vibrant colors from the trees reflected off the water. There were carpets of bright yellow from the fallen leaves. I was thankful for this, not only because I appreciate the beauty we can see right outside our doors, but because it offered me moments of respite from the CRAPTASTIC ride I was having. It was one of the worst days I've had on a bike in recent memory. Actually, I should be correct in saying that it was one of the worst days "not on a bike" because I was rarely on my bike. I was mostly pushing it over slippery things, and riding a few feet every so often.
I had very little idea what I was getting myself into when we started out on the pink trail (advanced) vs. the white trail (beginner). It was only after riding the first 3 miles (which felt like 23 miles) that I asked, "How long is this route anyway?" The answer: 20 miles. Now, in general terms, this really isn't very long. But when the gazzilion little rocks and roots covering the trail have been rained on the day before, this lovely little scenic trail felt more like an obstacle course covered in ice. The more I slipped on things, the more I lost my confidence, the more I got off my bike, and couldn't get into a rhythm, and I continued to lose confidence leaving me unable to ride things that would normally be easy. I should add that in all this, there were a lot of people sharing this trail with me, meaning as I was trying my best to navigate, a group of faster riding guys would come up behind me, so I'd have to pull over and let them pass. It was frustrating and not very fun. I tried my hardest to focus on the positive (the scenery, and sharing the day with Todd). I was ready to sell my bike by the end of the ride. I've since decided against that, but I'm still very discouraged and thinking about ways to improve my technical skills on a mountain bike, so I can enjoy tough conditions.
We ended the afternoon by hanging out with some friends, and I tried something new for dinner. Nobody got physically hurt, and all is well here in Arlington. These are a good basic recipe, but I feel it needs a little something to give it some zing. I had a salad with lots of goat cheese that was a nice accompaniment, but I'm wondering about adding goat cheese right into the patties. The recipe had it served with a yogurt sauce (plain yogurt, lemon juice and dill) but I don't think that added much to the flavor.

Quinoa Spinach Cakes

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 1/2 tblspns red onion, minced
1 tspn garlic, minced
2/3 carrot, grated
2/3 summer squash, grated
1/2 10 oz bag frozen spinach, defrosted, water squeezed out
zest of one large lemon
4 tblspns unbleached flour
1 tspn baking powder
1 egg
2 tspns salt
1/2 tspn freshly ground pepper

1. Cook quinoa (rinse quinoa, then add water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes until water is absorbed.) Let cool.
2. Preheat oven to 425. In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Oil a baking sheet. Divide the mixture into 8 balls and flatten into patties (about 1/2 inch to 3/4 of an inch thick) onto the baking sheet. Cook for about 20 minutes, flipping after 10 minutes, until light brown and crispy.

Black Bean Soup

2009-10-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

It recently occurred to me it was weird that with all the soup making I do, I never make black bean soup. I may have tried it before, but not in my recent memory. So, I decided to make some the other night, and thought, paired with spinach and mushroom quesadillas, it made for a nice weeknight meal. The soup was pretty good, and it's pretty quick to pull together. But, the quesadillas were bland. I didn't spice the veggies when I sauteed them, and I bought some already shredded cheese to save time. I should've just shredded my own cheese. It would've had a lot more flavor.
I looked at a few recipes and combined them, so hopefully this is accurate. I'm not sure I remember exactly what I did. This would be a good base for a black bean chili, just add more veggies to make chunkier, and spices to add more kick.

Black Bean Soup

1 onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 1/2 cups veggie broth
2 15 oz cans black beans, undrained
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn cumin
1 tspn chili powder
dash of cayenne
lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tspn cider vinegar
1 1/2 tbspn arrowroot (or cornstarch)

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a soup pot. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes.
2. Add 1/2 can beans and spices. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
3. Puree soup (this is where my coveted immersion blender comes in handy)
4. Add the rest of the beans to the soup.
5. If using cornstarch, mix it with water, then add to soup. If using arrowroot, add directly to soup. Also add lemon and vinegar. Heat and stir til the soup thickens. Serve.

Creamy Tomato Soup

2009-10-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Help! Does anyone have any ideas what to do with the rest of the can of tomato paste when every recipe only calls for 1 or 2 tablespoons??!

Life has been super busy, which is why it's been a month and a half since I've posted anything. I've had lots of things I've wanted to write about, and have a couple of unfinished posts hanging around, but just don't have a lot of mental energy at the moment. I have finally reached my "light at the end of the tunnel" - the time in which things should become more manageable at work. I have been looking forward to this for a while. I can focus a little more on cyclocross racing and other things that I'd like to give my attention to, like reading, writing and cooking (not arithmetic, that's for sure).
This is probably my favorite time of year for cooking, so I'm happy to get back into it. I made chili a couple of weeks ago which was the perfect thing to have after a very muddy 'cross race. This weekend, Todd requested tomato soup. He rarely requests anything specific, so when he does, I'm on it! My mom and I had tried a tomato soup recipe in August when tomatoes were in season. It called for roasting the tomatoes. It was really quite bland and not something I'd make again. So this time, I just used canned tomatoes, and found a recipe to make on the stovetop. I thought it was quite good, and I used the cream like it called for since I was in the mood for something a little decadent, but I don't think it needs the cream. We had the soup with some grilled cheese sandwiches made from sourdough bread, Cabot cheddar and a little dijon mustard. It made for some nice casual comfort food on a chilly evening.

Creamy Tomato Soup
2 tblsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small carrot, finely diced
2 tblsp flour
2 lb fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped or 1 28 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes with juices
2 cups veggie broth
1 tblsp tomato paste
1 tblsp fresh basil or 1/2 tspn dried
2 tspns fresh thyme or 1/2 tspn dried
1 bay leaf
1 cup light cream or milk
salt and pepper

1. In a large non-reactive pan melt the butter. Sautee the onion and carrot for 3-5 minutes.
2. Add flour and stir constantly for 1-2 minutes without allowing to color.
3. Add tomatoes with juices, broth, tomato paste, basil, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Blend in batches or use a super cool immersion blender to puree.
5. Return to pan and add cream/milk on low heat stirring frequently until warmed up.

Beet and Cheese Tart

2009-09-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

The end of summer is upon us, and after what was such a short summer season here, weather-wise. No, it's not officially the autumnal equinox yet, but Labor Day weekend is over - the symbolic end of summer. The kids have gone back to school, it's no longer appropriate to wear white shoes, and the air has turned crisp.
For the long weekend, pretty much everyone I knew was in Vermont, either for the Green Mountain Stage Race or for a weekend of mountain biking at Kingdom Trails. Todd and I opted to stay home having just been away and spent money on a vacation to Oregon. Our friends, Howie and Elizabeth, also decided to remain in Massachusetts and invited us to their home in Merrimacport for an overnight stay. They just moved there last year to a gorgeous and cozy home right across from the river. I have often joked to them that if they ever need someone to house-sit that I'd love to come do it since it would feel like a vacation. When they invited us to stay over they said we would get the B&B treatment, and they took this very seriously!
We came up Saturday afternoon and started things off by getting drinks and walking over to a dock to chill riverside while the sun was getting ready to set. After that, we were treated to a most amazing dinner of grilled flank steak (? I really don't know my meats) cooked to perfection by Howie; sauteed whole small carrots; grilled asparagus and potatoes; and (drum roll please) a most delectable beet tart that was clearly not something one could just whip together at a moments notice. This was a labor of love. Dinner was followed by truffle, tea, and conversation on the porch.
In the morning we were greeted in the kitchen and offered several different breakfast options. Since I have yogurt and granola pretty much every morning of my life, this was very exciting. I opted for variety with waffles, fruit, omelet and oatmeal. Then, Eugene joined us and we headed out for a guided tour of the area by bike. We did a loop around the lake, then stopped back at the house for lunch. After refueling, we went back out towards Newburyport and made a few stops. One at a gallery where H&E had some of their artwork showing, and one at the gelato shop where I had the most delicious nutella flavored gelato. Have you noticed the eat, ride, eat, ride pattern? I work well on the "treat system" - ride and you will be rewarded with something tasty. We actually scoffed down some of the previous evenings leftovers when we finished!
There are so many things I admire about Elizabeth (no offense to Howie because he's pretty cool in his own right). She has many talents as an artist, she is graceful, she is actively and sincerely supportive of her friends' interests and endeavors, and she has a most calming presence, just to name a few. But, my favorite thing about her is her daily quest for beauty. She does this in regards to the simple and the more grand. It makes every experience with her all the more special. Whether she is choosing a path on which to take our bikes, or putting a bowl of fruit together, she does so with the most aesthetically appealing option in mind. I'm guessing this is what makes her such a good artist. I thoroughly enjoy seeing things through her lens.
Even at our B&B stay, she took time to include little details that added to the whole experience. She put beautiful fresh flowers in our room, picked from her yard (I know my flowers about as well as I know my meats); she put an "M" (for Michele) made from thyme branches on top; and when we left, she assembled a bunch of flowers to take home wrapped in newspaper and a gold tie.
Like I said, it's always a special experience for me when I spend time with Elizabeth, but, unfortunately it does not happen enough. So, now, when alone and looking to make certain choices, I find myself wondering, what would Elizabeth do? Which path would she take? Perhaps this will allow me to incorporate a little more beauty into my life.

Elizabeth's Beet Tart

Crust (makes enough dough for 2 crusts)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3 tblspns sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup ice water

1. In a food processor, mix flour and sugar til just combined. Add butter and process til it resembles course meal, about 10 seconds.
2. Lightly beat eggs yolk and water. With the processor running add yolk mixture in a steady stream until dough holds together. Do not process more than 30 seconds.
3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide into two pieces. Put each on a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten and shape into discs. Wrap and put into refrigerator at least one hour or freeze for up to a month.

Tart filling
all purpose flour for dusting
1 1/2 disks of the flour recipe from above
1 1/2 lbs of red and golden beets (without greens)
2 tblspns extra virgin olive oil
coarse salt
1 lb goat cheese, softened to room temperature
4 oz ricotta cheese (scant 1/2 cup)
2 tspns finely chopped fresh thyme, plus about 1 tspn whole leaves
freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated fontina cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375. On a lightly floured surface place 1 1/2 disks of the dough next to each other. Roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Press firmly into a 9X13 rimmed baking sheet, leaving a 1 inch over hang on all sides. Press edges of dough under to create a double thickness; press firmly against the pan. Prick dough with a fork. Refridgerate for 30 minutes.
2. Line shell with parchment or foil; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, remove weights and parchment. Let shell cool completely. Leave oven on.
3. Trim all but 1/2 inch of stems from beets and rinse thoroughly. Toss with oil and 1 tspn salt. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and cover tight with foil. Roast until beets are tender 45-60 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel beets with a paring knife and cut into thin rounds.
4. Raise oven temperature to 425. Stir together the goat cheese, ricotta and thyme until well blended. Season with pepper. Spread mixture over tart shell filling all the way to the edges.
5. Arrange beets over cheese mixture, overlapping slices slightly and alternating colors. Lightly season with salt. Sprinkle fontina and thyme leaves over the top. Lightly drizzle with oil and then season with salt and pepper. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Serve warm.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

2009-08-31T17:52:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day back at work after two weeks vacation. It was difficult getting back on a structured schedule. I was really enjoying getting up whenever I wanted and then doing whatever I wanted for the whole day. I have no problem occupying myself for hours upon hours of time. Of course, the "doing whatever I want" part typically requires some money, even if it is just buying a double shot soy latte to sip while I sit in the sun in Davis Square reading my book, or getting some veggies at the farmers market to try some new recipes. There are also the larger expenses, like paying rent to have a place to put my bed so I can sleep till whenever I want, or purchasing plane tickets to have an adventure in Oregon. Because of this, I'm not anticipating being deliberately unemployed at any time in my near future, but I have begun daydreaming of ways to have something other than a five day work week and be financially stable.

More on that at another time. Right now I'm still trying to relish in all the little spontaneous things I was able to do during my unstructured time. One day, it was disgustingly hot and humid. I was too hot to ride my bike or run, and there's not really any good place close by to go for a swim. So, I decided for an urban method of cooling off: going to the movie theatre. I'm sure this used to be much more popular before central air conditioning was commonplace, but since we don't have this modern creature comfort, and I don't get to the movies enough, it was a good excuse to do just that.

I saw Jules and Julia. It's about an almost 30 woman, feeling a little lost and like her career is meaningless, so she takes on a self-imposed challenge to cook all 500 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the span of a year, and to keep a blog recording her experiences. At the same time, it tells the story of how Julia Child got her start in cooking. It was a cute movie. It made me cry a lot, but it wasn't sad. I just seem to cry at almost anything these days. It did resonate with me in several ways (e.g. cooking blog) and I had just booked a trip to Paris the day before so it was fun watching the scenes of Julia living in the City of Lights.

It made me wonder when exactly I started to enjoy cooking, and what it is I like about it. There was no particular turning point. It's not something I had a love or talent for at a young age, and I'm still not a very good cook. But I do enjoy it. I like chopping - I find it relaxing. I like the creative aspect, rummaging around in the cupboards and fridge to find some things to toss together for a tasty meal. Mostly, I like being healthy, and doing this by eating fresh unprocessed foods as much as possible.

I've come a long way from my start of being a vegetarian over 20 years ago. In the beginning, I really had no idea what I was doing and was pretty much just a carbivore and even the carbs I ate weren't good choices. I didn't look or feel very healthy. I remember one meal I used to make a lot: chopped up potatoes, cooked in the microwave, white minute rice, and iceberg lettuce salad, all with fat free ranch dressing on it. Ewwwwwww. This was in the no fat craze days. Eventually I started realizing that my blood sugar was all whacked out and this wasn't the best way to eat. Then, I got some cookbooks and would follow everything step by step, afraid to veer from the directions. Over time, I learned better what went with what, figured out some good sources of protein, started experimenting, and tried to eliminate things like high fructose corn syrup from my diet.

Anyway, here I am today eating whole grains and beans pretty much every day and still learning a lot. That's another thing I enjoy- no matter how much you cook, there's always more foods and ways of cooking to explore. Here's a new quinoa recipe I made the other day. It's got adzuki beans in it, which I like to eat because they're even higher in iron than black beans and chickpeas (my other favorites). This recipe is simple and light, good for a summer's day. I think you could add some feta for a heartier type salad.

Quinoa Tabbouleh
1 cup quinoa, rinsed in a sieve
2 cups water
salt
2 medium ripe yellow tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup minced red onion
1 can adzuki beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch parsley chopped (leaves only)
3 tblsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tblspns fresh lemon juice
fresh ground pepper

1. Boil the water in a medium saucepan. Add quinoa and some salt, cover reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until all water is absorbed.
2. Place the cooked quinoa in a large bowl to cool. Add tomatoes, onions, beans, parsley and cilantro.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, some salt, pepper, and lemon juice combine with salad. Chill for an hour then serve.

Summer sautee with Israeli Couscous

2009-08-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

I'm just not a morning person. Maybe that's why it feels to me like morning people outnumber non-morning people by at least 2:1. They seem to be everywhere, all perky and showing up to 9:00 meetings having already accomplished several other things. It's not that I want to sleep into late morning or early afternoon and waste half the day away. Getting up at 7:00-7:30 is fine by me. I just don't want to be required to have to actually DO anything taxing at that hour. I wish I could be one of these people who gets up at 5:00, leaps out of bed and onto their bike or into their running sneakers and gets their workout done for the day. But, I'm just not. Every once in a while, I get up and run or ride when I really want to get a workout in and know I can't do it in the evening, but there is no leaping involved. It takes everything I have to drag myself out of bed after pressing "snooze" a couple of times. When I was swimming regularly a couple of times a week, I did that in the morning, mostly because it was too much of a pain to deal with wet chlorinated hair in the evenings. In order to get that started, I actually had to plan to meet a friend who I didn't know very well at the time, so didn't want to not show and have her be upset with me.

Also, from what I gather, in order to be a morning person, one has to go to bed earlier. It seems many people I know are actually going to bed at the same time Todd and I are sitting down to dinner at 10:00. I know this is bad for me and probably contributes to the fact that I often don't sleep well and rarely feel rested when I get up in the morning. But, it's really hard to break the cycle, especially when you live with another non-morning person, and even more so when they are unemployed and have no structured schedule to abide by. I could try to get to work earlier, so I could leave earlier, get my workout done earlier, so I could eat earlier and get to bed. But the fact is, I'm just more alert and productive in the evenings. I can literally feel myself perk up at about 4:00 in the afternoon at my desk, and that's about when I'm really ready to get going. I also feel a lot better running or riding in the evenings vs. doing it in the morning since I'm not feeling very alert at that point.

Summer has really finally arrived here in the northeast and it's darn hot. Since I've been trying to turn the stove on as little as possible and keep dinners simple, you'd think that would move our dinner time back a little, but it really hasn't. This is one dish I made last week that I really liked.

Summer Sautee with Israeli Couscous
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 tspn and 1 tblsn olive oil
1 1/4 cups water
1 tspn salt
1 tspn oregano
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small summer squash, sliced
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 cup frozen peas, rinsed
1/4 cup more fresh basil chopped
1 small bunch fresh spinach chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
goat cheese to taste
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the tspn of oil in a small saucepan. Add couscous and toast until light brown, about 5 minutes. Be sure to stir often. Add water, salt and oregano. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn down to a simmer. It takes about 10-12 minutes to cook.
2. In sautee pan, heat the tblsn of oil. Add onion and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add squash and zucchini. Cook for about 10 minutes, then add peas. After a couple of minutes add spinach, tomato, and basil. Cook for a few more minutes then turn off heat and sprinkle goat cheese, salt and pepper. Put couscous in bowls and pour veggie sautee over it to serve.

Succulent Summer Squash Sautee

2009-08-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Driver,

When you come upon me on the road, you do not need to pull all the way over the yellow line completely into the other lane into on-coming traffic to avoid me. Not moving over at all is also not a good option. When I can almost feel your car door on my thigh (or your horse trailer as another example), this is unnerving. Moving over just a couple of feet is plenty of room. Giving me the finger, throwing something or yelling at me when I am as far over to the right as I can possibly be, is totally unproductive, upsetting and unsafe. I am not another cyclist you may have been aggravated by in the past for doing something they shouldn't have. And, if you have anger issues and/or an ego which leads you to believe I do not have a right to be on the road, that is not my problem. Find another way to release your anger (like exercise), and/or get over yourself. It's really scary to be out there sometimes amongst ornery drivers in very large vehicles.

I am not saying that every cyclist is on their best behavior out there. I know they're not. Many ride side by side on roads that are not wide enough or quiet enough to be doing so. Some ride over in the middle of the lane, for no apparent reason. Some may run a stop sign or a stop light into traffic causing cars to have to slow when they shouldn't need to. But, I do believe these are the exceptions. There are a lot of us out there who are just following the rules and being safe as we try to: stay fit; do something we are passionate about; train so we can compete; see the places we live out in the open instead of out a car window; be social and have fun. We are not trying to piss you off. Is it really that bad if you have to slow down a little bit? I urge all of you who have ever uttered an angry word or had a negative thought towards a cyclist to get out there on a bike. At the very least, you may put yourself in our shoes for a bit, and have some compassion. Or, you never know, you may actually like it, catch the fever, and become one of us.

Terrifyingly yours,
Cyclist

In the couple of trips I have taken this summer, I have expected to encounter drivers who are more cyclist friendly. Not the case. In Vermont over Memorial Day weekend, I was appalled by drivers (and I definitely notice a theme of men in big pick-up trucks) yelling, giving the finger, and being generally obnoxious gunning their engines to get by us. On the Cape this past week people seemed obliging when it came to stopping for cyclists on the bike path, but didn't seem to know what to do when approaching us on the road. They were either veering way too far into the other lane or not giving us any room at all.

I'm not really sure what the underlying issue is, but I think it's many. Some people simply don't understand the rules of the road and don't know what to do when they happen upon a cyclist. Others are just generally aggressive drivers and think anything that slows them down is an abomination that should be dealt with through rage or whatever actions they see fit. And some people just have it out for cyclists. My own personal explanation is some of these folks just feel guilty because they know they should be out exercising, but aren't, so they subconsciously take it out on us. That may sound crazy, but these are the things that go through my head when I'm out on the bike for hours by myself, trying to contemplate the behaviors I witness.

Anyhow, enough ranting. We had a few decent rides down the Cape. One was a 40ish mile loop from the house in Chatham, that wasn't fairly flat and not very scenic. Another was a mellow 30 mile ride out to Nickerson Park by way of bike path, and my favorite: a mountain bike ride at the Trail of Tears in Barnstable. I can't wait to get back there again.

We followed up our rides by some great meals. Kathy and I had brought down the wares of our farm shares and we were able to toss the ingredients together to create tasty dishes. This one was my favorite.

Summer Squash Sautee over Pasta
8 oz fusilli pasta
1 tblsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large or 2 smallish zucchini, sliced
1 small to medium summer squash
2-3 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped fine
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine (I have also used some dried parsley and more basil when I didn't have fresh parsley on hand)
some hot red pepper flakes,
6 0r 8 sundried tomato strips, chopped
1/8 cup or more goat cheese
salt to taste
2-3 tblsp toasted pine nuts (optional, but really add some great flavor)

1. Cook pasta. When done, toss with olive oil and a little sea salt.
2. Heat olive oil in large sautee pan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic and hot red pepper flakes (if using) for a few minutes. Add summer squash and zucchini. Cook 10-15 minutes, or until tender.
3. Add tomatoes, basil, parsley, salt and sundried tomato pesto (if using).
4. Turn off heat and sprinkle with goat cheese and pine nuts. Spoon onto bowl of pasta and serve.

Thai Crunchy Veggie and Soba Noodle Salad

2009-08-02T14:52:00.001-07:00

In Anne of Green Gables, the main character, Anne, considers those who she believes will be her lifelong friends to be "kindred spirits". To elaborate for my own personal definition of this term, those who I consider to be my kindred spirits are friends whom I feel a deeper connection with. By this, I mean friends who: I can talk to very easily about a myriad of things; be goofy and laugh a lot with; grow to understand my flaws, and I understand theirs; and, inspire me to be a better person. Often their very presence gives me a little lift, and I may even feel slightly elated after having spent time with them. They are the friendship equivalent of "soul mates" . While I have many longtime friends who I hope will be in my life for the long haul, there are only a few I would consider kindred spirits.

When I meet potential new friends, it's not uncommon to feel a special connection right away. I may walk away from the initial few meetings wanting more - wanting to find out more about this person, and start unpeeling the layers to find out more about who they are and what they are all about. Sometimes these acquaintances turn into long lasting friendships, and sometimes they do not.

As a sort of fun analogy, relationships with food can follow a similar pattern. I may discover a new grain or vegetable, get really excited about it and figure out new ways to use it, and spend a lot of time trying to "get to know it". Some of these things may end up in my permanent repertoire, while others slip by the wayside and I while I like it, it slips from the forefront of my mind.

Right now, I am in the beginning stages of a food relationship with kohlrabi. In the farm share that was donated to me for a couple of weeks, I got some of these odd looking turnip-type bulbs. I found they actually taste like broccoli stalks, and since this is my favorite part of broccoli, I was delighted. So far I've only eaten them raw in salads, but I am told they taste good sauteed. I've eaten them a bunch in the last week, and because I don't think they're that easy to find in the grocery store, I am guessing they will end up as a more of a "seasonal friend" and not one that I spend consistent time with year-round, but we shall see.

Kohlrabi is great just chopped up with some greens for a simple salad, and it worked really well in this noodle dish. I used a bottled Thai peanut sauce, but I do need to get around to making my own one of these days. I usually use the Whole Foods brand, but for this I used the House of Tsang brand. It has a spicier kick to it. Also, I've tried this with both soba noodles and udon noodles and liked the soba noodles best. Other veggies that would work well would be jicama, scallions, and maybe some cucumber.

Thai Crunchy Veggie and Noodle Salad
1 package of soba noodles
2 cups of a mix of red pepper, carrot and kohlrabi, cut into matchstick size pieces
1/2 cup frozen peas, rinsed in hot water
1/4-1/2 cup of Thai Peanut sauce

1. Cook noodles, and when finished rinse under cold water
2. Mix chopped up veggies, noodles, peas and peanut sauce. It can be served right away, but is best when chilled for at least a couple of hours.

Simple Zucchini Pasta Dish

2009-07-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

As it turned out, another side benefit to the aforementioned lousy bout of weather, besides my running more, was that I read more than I probably would've otherwise. I've had a good run of books and have really enjoyed the last five books I've read.
First, was Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs. I've enjoyed his descriptive style in the past and also his ability to develop characters. This book didn't disappoint. There's typically not a lot of action in his books. They usually take place in some sleepy has-been small town and take a look into the lives of some of the eccentric characters that live there.
Second was a book I picked up in the airport in London, The Gargoyle. The cover looked a bit foreboding - a Gothic style with black edges to the pages. The description made it sound like a fantasy novel and while there was definitely an element of the unreal, it was mostly a love story packaged in a creative tale. It reminded me of The Time Traveler's Wife, which you had to suspend judgment of what's believable to get to appreciate a very touching story of a couple very much in love.
Next was Sarah's Key. This was historical fiction and took place during the Holocaust. It took place in France and relayed the story of a lesser known incident regarding Jews in France in 1942. It is very sad, but well done. There are 2 parallel stories - one current day, and one from 1942. There were many subtle connections throughout between both stories.
Then, for a change of pace, I read a graphic novel which was given to me as a birthday gift. It told the story of a relationship through the eyes of objects. It was set up like an auction guide, and each item revealed something about this relationship. It was very clever and I was surprised at my ability to gain a sense of some of the intimate moments and dynamics of this relationship from the descriptions of these objects. There were some notes and letters dispersed throughout, so that helped a lot.
Then, I pulled out an early Ann Patchett book, The Patron Saint of Liars. I've had it on my bookshelf for years. I really enjoyed her other books Bel Canto and The Magician's Assistant, and again, I was not disappointed. I enjoy her writing as well. This book took place in a home for young pregnant women who were sent away to have their babies and give them up for adoption.
Now, I'm ready for a new book and think it's time for some non-fiction. I haven't had much time to read for the last week and don't anticipate much time this week either, but have to set myself up for vacation, which is just five days away...
In the meantime, I'm trying to utilize the vegetables from my donated farm share. My friends, Wayne and Jean are away and are letting me take their veggies for 2 weeks! I've got a bunch of zucchini and I was tired tonight, so didn't feel like making anything too involved. The recipe I looked at had you boiling the zucchini, which I think is a bad idea. I think it would disintegrate. I read a little about salting zucchini to drain it a bit before cooking and decided to try it. I think it worked well, but don't know how different it would have turned out otherwise. It did seem firmer than times I have cooked zucchini in the past. I added beans to the original recipe and didn't think of it until after, but some lemon would probably be a nice addition as well.

Simple Zucchini Pasta
1/2 tspn (or more) hot chili flakes
1 tblspn olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tspn plus 1/2 tspn salt
3 cups of sliced zucchini
5 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz of bowties
1/2 can (or more) cannelini (white kidney) beans
1/2 cup of grated parmesean cheese

1. Put the sliced zucchini in a colander over a plate or in the sink and sprinkle with salt. Toss it so it's evenly coated. Let it sit for 45 minutes.
2. Put the pasta on to cook. Then, heat the oil over medium heat. Add garlic and hot pepper flakes. Let it cook for a couple of minutes, swirling it around in the pan so the oil gets flavored.
3. Add the zucchini. Cook for about 10 minutes or until tender, but not mushy. Add parsley and beans. Cook for 5 more minutes, until beans heated through.
4. Turn off heat and add grated cheese. Add cooked pasta to pan, mix up and add some salt to taste.

Mom's Potato Salad

2009-07-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been a long time since I've posted anything. I'm not sure why, really. Part of the reason is that work has been busy. But I think the dreary weather has been making me feel a little uninspired in the kitchen. Summer seems to have finally arrived though and we've had some really nice days over the last couple of weeks.
During the painfully long spring we had, I found myself getting back into running. Not that I ever totally gave it up, but I had cut back to try to do some more cycling. Then I got an injury after running the Austin half marathon in February. I couldn't run for 3 months. I think it was an IT band injury that I got as a result of running strangely during the race due to some blisters I had on the balls of my feet. I had a great race though. Three months was the longest I've ever gone without running since I started to run over 15 years ago.
So, thankfully I can run again. Between the rainy weather and long hours in work, I find running easier to accomplish than riding. I can get in a good workout in a shorter amount of time, and I can do it in the dark when I get home late. There's also so much less gear for it. Running is pretty simple in that regard: sneakers and some clothes, that's all you need. I've also been trail running again which I really enjoy. I find running on trails mentally engaging and easier on my body than running on concrete.
Anyway, since cookout season has finally arrived, I decided it was time to make some potato salad. I had bought some of those little potatoes that come in red, white and blue, thinking that would be a fun dish for 4th of July. I searched around for an interesting recipe, but then ended up going with a classic - my mom's potato salad. I don't like eggs and all kinds of goop in my potato salad. This one does have mayo, but it's still on the lighter side as far as potato salads go.

Mom's Potato Salad
2-3 lbs of potatoes, chopped into large-ish bite size chunks. The little red potatoes work well, but russet or yukon gold would work fine. You just need to peel those.
1 rib of celery chopped small
4 or 5 scallions chopped finely (more if you like onion. You could also use red onion)
1/4 cup mayo
1 tblspn cider vinegar
1 tspn celery seed
salt and pepper
paprika

1. Boil potatoes till tender, but don't let them get too soft or they'll fall apart when you're mixing everything. Drain and let cool.
2. Put celery and onion in bowl.
3. Mix mayo, vinegar and celery seed.
4. Put potatoes in bowl with veggies. Pour dressing on top, and add some salt and pepper. Mix and top with some paprika.

Sesame Bok Choy and Cabbage

2009-06-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's silly to complain about the weather since we have no control over it, but I think we here in Massachusetts (all of New England?) are allowed to be a bit whiny. In all of June, I think we have had 2 sunny days. The clouds, the gray and the rain are getting old. Real old. Our summer season is so short as it is, to take this much of it away from us is just plain mean. I know it's only been officially summer since yesterday, but the forecast for the entire week ahead is rain. No end in sight. My bed sheets and towels feel clammy and gross. I feel gross. My energy is lower and I find myself wanting to eat lots of carbs - like the large quantity of pizza I ate for dinner tonight - and lay around reading.

Speaking of dinner, I had a most eclectic combination on my pizza this evening. We went to Za, which is in our neighborhood, and they do try to use local and seasonal ingredients. Tonight had two interesting chalkboard specials, and I ended up getting to sample both of them because of an error in the kitchen - they gave me a free pizza! On one was: strawberries, goat cheese, walnuts, caramelized onions and basil. On the other: asparagus, cheddar, Parmesan, rhubarb and caramelized onions. Neither had red sauce. It's not often you get to have strawberries on your pizza, so it was fun as well as tasty. I would definitely have it again, but I think my favorite was the asparagus combo.

At first I was looking at the bright side of the non-summery weather and taking advantage of still being able to turn the oven on. But, I've moved on from that, and I'm moving towards seasonal dishes. For those of you who belong to CSAs, this recipe will come in handy as you are probably getting some bok choy in your share. My friend, Jean, passed this one onto me. It's simple and few ingredients, but a very tasty, quick meal. I served it over brown rice on her suggestion, and I think this is the way to go. I'm not sure white rice would complement it as well. I also added mushrooms to Jean's recipe and thought it worked well.

Sesame Bok Choy and Cabbage

1/2 lb bok choy, sliced
1/4-1/3 head cabbage, chopped
1 c. sliced white mushrooms
2 tblsp canola oil
1 tspn sesame oil
3 cloves garlic
Bragg's liquid aminos to taste (optional)
2 tblsp toasted sesame seeds for garnish

1. In a skillet or wok, heat the canola oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic, mushrooms and cabbage and saute for 5 minutes.
2. Add bok choy, saute another 5 minutes.
3. Turn off heat. Drizzle with olive oil and if you want a little saltier flavor add some Bragg's. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice.

Black Bean Burgers

2009-06-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what's more remarkable about tonight's dinner - that I made homemade veggie burgers for the first time in over 20 years of being vegetarian or that Todd and I ate dinner at 7:30. Since the weather is cloudy (yet again- this is 3 weeks in a row of rainy weekdays) and my Tuesday night group ride was canceled, I decided to just come home and get some things done. My original back-up plan was to go to yoga, and while I can always use more stretching, I can also use a night of reading. Todd and I typically end up eating dinner around 10:00, so I'm guessing I'm going to be hungry again around bedtime. Good thing I have leftovers.

I'm not sure why I've never made veggie burgers from scratch before. I've made mock "meat"loafs which is very similar, and "meat"balls, but never veggie burgers. I think I got veggieburgered out at one point or something. There was a time when it seemed hard to get anything but a veggie burger as a vegetarian when you ate outside your home, so maybe it just wasn't something I was excited to eat. Making them from scratch is certainly far better than the frozen kind.

This recipe isn't going to totally knock your socks off, but it's definitely a good, basic foundation to use that's not that labor intensive. I plan to mess around with it and see what I can do with it. Don't expect it to be a solid hockey puck type thing like a frozen one. They are a little crumbly. We had them with roasted potatoes and the aioli sauce from a couple of posts ago, and some broccoli. It made a nice casual meal.

Black Bean Burgers
1 14 oz can black beans
1/2 bell pepper, chopped small (I used orange, but any color will work)
1/2 onion, chopped small
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
1 tblsp chili powder
1 tblsp cumin
1 tspn thai chili sauce or hot sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko style)

1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and lightly oil a baking sheet.

2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty. Add onion, pepper and garlic.

3. In a small bowl, mix egg, chili powder, cumin and chili sauce. Stir into mashed bean mixture.

4. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Add more bread crumbs if necessary. If you are using bread crumbs that are not seasoned, you may want to add a little salt. Form 4 patties using your hands to mash together.

5. If grilling, place patties on foil and grill for 8 minutes on each side. If cooking in the oven, place on baking sheet, and bake 10 minutes each side.

Red Lentil Sweet Potato Curry

2009-06-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'm 40. Forty. The big 4-0. I think this technically makes me "middle-aged". How did that happen? I know, I know: 40s is the new 30s; It's all how you feel; It's just a number. All that is true. I feel pretty darn good. I am happy. I have a good life. But, I am 40. I have never had any particular plan set for myself, like by the time I'm 40 I'll be making over $100k, have 2 kids, live in a 3 bedroom split ranch in a quiet suburb near the water. None of that. (Which is good, since none of these things are true.) I tend to figure things out as I go along and take experiences as they come. This has worked out o.k. for me so far, but I feel that in my middle-agedness it might be time for me to go about things in a more deliberate manner, because the reality is that I am running out of time to do all the things I want to do in this life! I do set little goals for myself along the way, typically in regards to my physical activities. But, I think it may be time to set some larger goals for myself in order to make sure my next decade of life is a memorable one.

At the moment, however, I am more focused on the physical aspect of things. I spent some time today studying my face in the mirror wondering if I'm aging well, and trying to think of how to get rid of the big crease that runs along the middle of my forehead and the sun spots just above it. Since botox and surgery aren't really viable options for me, I think I just have to live with the current state of things. So, now I just have to go into prevention mode and try to minimize the amount of future wrinkles, spots, etc. I got a facial on my birthday and went from there to a make-up store in the mall where I asked the nice young man to try to make me look 35. And, if he couldn't do that, I asked him to at least make me look less tired. He did have some good suggestions and introduced me to a great under eye concealer and some lip gloss.

So, now it will be time to move beyond the superficial nature of things and figure out some more meaningful goals. On the cooking front, I think my 40s will be the decade of the curry. I have already started exploring that genre and will continue to do so. This is the dish I made on my birthday eve. I cut this recipe almost in half, and it made enough for dinner and leftovers for the both of us.

Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry

3/4 cup uncooked red lentils

6 cups water

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced

2 medium sized sweet potatoes, scrubbed and diced

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 cup light coconut milk

1 tblsp yellow curry powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tblsp chili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 inch chunk peeled and grated ginger

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp lime juice

1 tsp peanut oil

1. Rinse the lentils. Put in a saucepan with 5 cups of water, bring to a boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes. Red lentils cook very fast so be careful! Drain and set aside.

2. In a dry skillet (no oil) on medium heat, toast the curry powder, garam masala, chili powder, turmeric, and 1/4 tspn salt. Toast until they become fragrant, then pour into a bowl and set aside.
3. Return skillet to heat and cook peanut oil on medium high heat. Add onions and remaining 1/4 tspn salt. Sautee the onions until they just start to brown. Add garlic & ginger and sautee for another minute.
4. Add the toasted spices, carrot and sweet potato. Sautee for 5 minutes, then add 1 cup water. cover and simmer until potatoes are tender about 10-13 minutes.
5. Stir in lentils and lime juice. Then stir in coconut milk. Let cook another few minutes. Server over rice.

Spicy Aioli Sauce with Roasted Potatoes

2009-05-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Often when I get invited to a party that has a theme to it I go through this cycle: First, I become excited because I think whatever the theme is a really neat idea (ex. Halloween party with 80s movies costume requirement; dinner party with things made with mango; etc.) Next, I am riddled with anxiety because I can't think of a good idea to fit the theme. This leads to me not wanting to go to the party anymore because I don't know what I'll wear/bring. Then, I typically come up with an idea, not being sure if it's a good one. Last, I get to the party and I'm totally energized and impressed with everyone's creativity.

Last night we were invited to a get together where the theme was "food on sticks". The caveat was that really most anything could count since toothpicks counted as sticks. Todd and I waited until the last minute to pick something (as I was experiencing the aforementioned stages). Often when I go out for Spanish tapas, I get a dish called "spicy potatoes" that I've been wanting to try out at home. We decided to make these and put toothpicks in the individual potatoes with the sauce on the side. It's simple and the result was pretty yummy. The best part was that Todd both did the grocery shopping and prepared the food while I was at work (with his unemployed status he is taking over some different household chores). I walked him carefully through the steps over the phone. I had to chuckle when he was reviewing the ingredients to make sure we had everything and when he got to "minced garlic" asked, "Do we have any of this?" Now, he just bought garlic at the store. So, I said, "Of course we do, once you take the garlic you just bought at the store and mince it." I know some people like to buy that jarred stuff, and I'm sure it's fine, but I prefer to use it fresh. I also hate those garlic presses. I think it's more work to clean it, than it is to just mince it with a knife. Todd went with the garlic press and it all came out great. I have to admit, I think I like him even more today. I keep looking at him and thinking to myself, "he made some damn good potatoes last night and he is all mine."

This sauce would also work really well with other veggies, or on a sandwich or roll up.

Roasted Potatoes with Spicy Aioli Sauce
12-15 small new potatoes (we used a mix of red, white and blue ones - fun!), quartered
1 tblsp olive oil
salt and pepper

1 cup of mayo
1 tspn mild chili powder
1 tspn paprika
1 tspn minced garlic
1/2 tspn salt (maybe a little more to taste)
1/4 tspn black pepper

1. Toss the potatoes in the olive oil and a little salt and pepper, and then put into a baking dish. Cook at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, blend the ingredients for the sauce and chill in the fridge.

Quinoa with Zucchini and Black Beans

2009-05-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

Last week, like many others before us, we were impacted by the suffering economy. Todd was laid off from his job, and while I am not panicking, I have certainly become more aware of expenditures. I would prefer to take precautions now, so we don't find ourselves in a place where we have to panic down the road. There are some obvious places to make cutbacks. We will not be going on a guided mountain bike vacation this summer like we were thinking. I had been looking into buying a commuter/winter bike, but will be delaying that. In general, I'll be scrutinizing all purchases differently.

Food is one area where we need to consider modifications. We don't dine out frequently as it is, so don't need to make a lot of changes there. But, Whole Foods will definitely be seeing my face less often. For produce, I'm planning to make my way over to Russo's in Watertown regularly and get to farmers' markets whenever I can. I find this tough because I am typically working during the hours they are held, but I'll have to figure out a way to work it into my schedule. (However, Todd may now have some free time during the day...) I will also shop around a bit to compare prices on things like canned beans and canned tomatoes. It may be time to start getting in the habit of buying dried beans and cooking them myself. I'm sure there's a cost savings there, but I'm not sure how much, and whether it's worth the investment of time. Another thought is buying these types of things by the case. I think Whole Foods even offers discounts if you do this. There are also a lot of frivolous items we can do without. For instance, I'm pretty sure we won't wither up if we don't have Tofutti Cuties or licorice Scotty Dogs. But, certain things I'm not willing to sacrifice, like our favorite brand of yogurt (Wallaby), good bread or certain organic items.

Luckily, we both really like rice and beans. Since it's both an economical and nutritious meal, I'm sure it will be making more frequent appearance on our dinner plates. But, of course, we don't want to over-do it. I will be on the lookout for some more variations of grains and beans. Another of this sort of dish that is an old standby for me is quinoa with black beans. The recipe includes zucchini, but I often make it without it, since I try to buy most veggies mostly when they are in season. It also calls for fresh cilantro, but dried can be used as well.

Quinoa with Zucchini and Black Beans
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 tblsp olive oil
3/4 cup quinoa (if you want to use more, increase the amount of broth. Use a 1:2 ratio), rinsed
1 1/2 cups of veggie broth
1 tspn cumin
1 tspn dried cilantro or 1/2 cup fresh, chopped
1 pinch cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup frozen corn kernals
1 14 oz can of black beans (or up to 2 cans, depending on how bean-y you want it)

1. Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil until light brown
2. Mix in quinoa, veggie broth, spices (except for cilantro if it's fresh), and zucchini. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes
3. Stire in corn, black beans, and cilantro (if fresh), and cook another 5 minutes until heated through.

Fresh Asparagus Soup

2009-05-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

Each season has its good characteristics, and its not so good ones. For spring, on a positive note: the days are longer; nature is very active and there's lots to fill your senses; you can take your wool coat and put it away for a while, and the seasonal food becomes a little "lighter". On its less favorable side: it's hard to have the right wardrobe to dress weather appropriate each day when the temps are up, down and in between; while nature is very active, so are people's allergies; and it starts to get too warm to turn on the oven.

On a bit of a tangent, I wonder if historically people have suffered from allergies to this great an extent, or if because of all the other toxins we are exposed to our bodies are less able to tolerate things like pollen.

Anyhow, when the temps do drop down, I do use that as an excuse to turn the dial on the oven up. I made another pan of roasted veggies the other day, but this time with a blend of winter and summery vegetables. To sweet and white potatoes, I added mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus and tomatoes. I liked that blend a lot. There are also lighter soups that lend themselves well to spring. I made this asparagus soup a couple of weeks ago when we had a few friends over for dinner. It's simple and a fun way to use this spring veggie. I should take this opportunity again to mention how much I adore my immersion blender.

Fresh Asparagus Soup
1 lb fresh asparagus
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup veggie broth
1 tblsp butter
2 tblsp all purpose flour
1 tspn salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups veggie broth
1 cup soy milk (I used rice milk)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tspn lemon juice
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Place asparagus and onion in a saucepan with 1/2 cup veggie broth. Bring the broth to a boil and let simmer until the vegetables are tender.
2. Blend vegetable mixture until smooth
3. Melt the butter in the pan that was used for simmering the asparagus and onions. Stir while sprinkling flour, salt and pepper into the butter. Do not let the flour brown. Allow the mixture to cook only 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups veggie broth and increase the heat. Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil.
4. Stir in the vegetable puree and milk into the saucepan. Whisk yogurt into the mixture, followed by lemon juice. Stir until heated through. Ladle into bowls and add grated cheese if desired.

Autumn Roasted Veggies with Israeli Couscous

2009-04-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

In my last post, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I was trying to avoid getting whatever sickness was ailing Todd. I speculated that I may have "jinxed" myself for recently declaring out loud that I hadn't been sick all winter. I also wondered if posting this on the internet could possibly exacerbate the affect of any potential jinxness. Well, I'm here to tell you that I think it did! In a matter of hours I went from the I think I may be getting sick phase to the bed-ridden I want my mommy phase of sickness. I was in bed with a fever and horrible cold, unable to even read a book, for 3 days. I mostly slept, blew my nose and stared at the ceiling. I didn't even get to have any of my Feel Better Soup because I was too sick to go to the store and get the ingredients. I had made some other soup the night before being stuck in bed which was tasty, but didn't have the magical qualities of Feel Better Soup.

Just before getting sick, I had made some roasted veggies with Israeli couscous. It's a very simple dish, but tasty and I think the roasted veggies pair well with this kind of couscous. It's probably the last time this year I will make any winter roasted veggies. The butternut and acorn squashes, and turnips that have been in storage someplace all winter are really getting passed their prime. I will probably try it again with some spring/early summer veggies before it gets too hot to turn on the oven. But, I wanted to make sure I captured this so I remember to make it again next year.

Autumn Roasted Veggies with Israeli Couscous
1 white potato, peeled and diced
1 small sweet potato, washed and diced
1 small turnip, peeled and diced
1 small butternut or acorn squash, peeled and diced
1 medium red onion, diced
2 tblsp olive oil
sea salt
pepper
1 tblsp herbs de provence
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar (or balsamic)

1. Toss all veggies in 1 tblsp of the olive oil (or a little more if necessary). Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with herbs, salt and pepper, and roast in 400 degree oven until tender and beginning to brown. (Probably 30 to 45 minutes)
2. Cook Israeli couscous: In a 2 quart saucepan, heat 1 tblsp olive oil over medium heat and sautee the cousous until lightly brown. Add veggie broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat down to simmer. Cook until liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes.
3. In small saucepan, simmer cider vinegar until reduced to a syrupy consistency.
4. Spoon veggies over couscous and drizzle with vinegar.

Feel Better Soup

2009-04-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

I made a big mistake the other day. I said, "I have not been sick at all this winter despite all the nasty viruses that were being passed around my office..." I should never have said that out loud. It's not that I'm really superstitious, but it seems I have had other instances where I've said similar things and "jinxed" myself. I believe it was around this same time last year when I said, "I've never taken a spill on my road bike." Sure enough, a couple of weeks later I was practicing cornering next to someone at the spring race clinic, when our bikes touched and I hit the ground hard. My seat came flying off, my helmet broke and I tore my shoe. (Is it worse, I wonder to make statements like this on the internet vs. to just one person? Hmm... I guess I'm going to find out.)

Todd has been home sick for almost a week with a really nasty cold and cough. I'm doing my best to take care of myself and avoid getting this myself. But, just in case I do, I pulled out this soup recipe. I call it my "witches' brew" soup because it really is like a magical potion to ward off illness. It doesn't have any eyes of newt in it, but it is also not a soup that you'll be saying, "Yummy! I can't wait to have this again!" It's not offensive, it's just not delicious. It does work though. There have been many times when I've made the soup at the first signs of feeling sick or when I've been sick, and it's either stopped the cold/flu right in it's track or shortened the life of it. Apparently it's the seaweed that is the magic ingredient. It is also the thing that lends to it's not so yummy taste. The downside is there's quite a bit of chopping, and if you're not feeling well, chopping might not be high on your list of preferred activities. It'd be nice if someone wanted to make it for you.

You might be wondering why I didn't make this for Todd while he's been sick, and the truth is I didn't think of it until today. It's too late in the game for him now. I think it's past the point where it might help him. I've been an o.k. nurse though. I did make him some minestra, and was also a nice vegetarian girlfriend and bought him some chicken soup at Whole Foods.

Feel Better /Witches' Brew Soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
6 cups veggie broth
2 large bunches watercress, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dried green lentils
1/2 cup raw brown rice
1/3 cup wakame or other seaweed (dried is fine)
1/3 cup chopped kale
1 white potato, cubed
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil over medium high heat, and add onion and celery. Cook, stirring until softened, not browned.
2. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours until rice is tender. (The rice will take the longest to cook).

Swiss Chard and Cannelini Bean Soup

2009-03-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

Being on Facebook has turned out to be a fun way to socialize. It also has the potential to be a huge time waster if you let it, and there are days I find myself using it to procrastinate doing other, more useful activities. But for the most part, I find it an easy way to stay in touch with people I may not be in as frequent contact with otherwise. It has also allowed me to find people I haven't talked to for many years, reconnect, and learn about their lives. Even the seemingly mundane details can sometimes be interesting, and you can find out little intricacies you have in common with someone.

There are, of course, the naysayers who exclaim things like, "Whatever happened to picking up the phone and having an actual conversation?" These seem to be the same folks who don't embrace technology in general, or maybe just don't have enough friends to warrant a Facebook page, and are secretly envious. Let's be real - I have 206 Facebook friends. If not for Facebook, I would be in regular communication with maybe 25% of them, and less frequently with another 25%. And, no, not all 206 of these people are my BFFs. There are probably a good handful that I wouldn't otherwise have any interest in if it weren't for folks just trying to get their friend numbers up. But, I've had lots of pleasant surprises along the way. For example, connecting with a childhood friend who informed me of an epic-sounding bike ride her Dad is doing that I am now planning to do this summer (the D2R2). Or finding out about one of my favorite musicians who was in town because of a friend's status, and then making plans to go to it with her.

One of my favorite recent surprises, was finding out my youngest cousin, Stephanie, has taken an interest in cooking. It's funny because although there is a 20 year age difference between us (yikes! I just had to do the math twice to be sure this was right), I have discovered we have quite a bit in common. She actually came across my blog because of a Facebook interaction I had with another of our cousins. This resulted in her making one of my recipes and then passing a favorite soup recipe of hers onto me. I have since made it twice. According to Stephanie, this soup is called Minasta and it is one her mom (my Italian auntie - the only real cook in the family) makes regularly. I did a search on line and couldn't find anything by that name, but did find one called "Minestra" that is similar. So, perhaps as it's gotten passed down through the family, both the recipe itself and its name has morphed a bit.

The best thing about this soup is its simplicity. There are no spices, except for garlic, salt and pepper, but it is healthy, filling and comforting, like a cousin to a chicken noodle soup, without the chicken. Twice, I have fed it to hungry cyclists and got a lot of positive feedback, but I need to take that with a grain of salt since they will pretty much eat anything that is made for them after a long, hard ride.

"Minestra"
1 large bunch of swiss chard, chopped (kale or escarole could also be used)
1 medium onion chopped
1 or 2 stalks of celery, chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tblsp olive oil
1 15 oz. can white cannelini beans
4-6 cups veggie broth (a non tomato base one like No-chicken broth is best)
1/2 to 1 cup of uncooked brown rice
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil over medium heat and sautee the onion, celery and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add swiss chard and sautee for a few more minutes.
2. Add broth. (The amount of broth you use will depend on the amount of rice you are going to include in the next step- the more rice, the more broth you will need. ) Let this simmer on low heat for about an hour. This allows all the flavors to blend.
3. Add the rice and simmer for 40 minutes. You may find you need to add more liquid if it gets too thick. The amount of liquid you add will depend on your desired consistency.
4. Add cannelini beans, salt and pepper. Let cook another 10 minutes until beans are heated through.

Spiced Lentil Cabbage Casserole

2009-02-28T08:02:00.001-08:00

The other day, I was hankering for some cabbage. I had planned to make lentil cabbage pilaf, but wanted to try something different, and found this recipe. Once I assembled in, and was going to put it in the oven, I was thinking, this is going to be pretty boring. Turmeric really doesn't do anything for me as a spice, but I couldn't think of anything to add, so I just went with it. As it turns out, it was pretty darn good. There's something about the combination of brown rice, lentils and cabbage that really works. And sometimes, you just let the ingredients speak for themselves and not add too many spices or complex flavors. I added Bragg's liquid aminos to mine when I was eating it, but Todd did not, and he liked this dish quite a lot, too.

Spiced Lentil Cabbage Casserole
3 cups cooked brown lentils
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup veggie broth
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used yellow, but if you like green pepper that would work well)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 tspn red chili flakes
1/2 tspn turmeric

1. Cook the brown rice and lentils according to directions in separate pans. The rice will take a little longer than the lentils, so start that first. (For rice, bring 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water to a boil, then simmer on very low, covered, for 40 minutes. For lentils, clean about 1 1/2 cups dried lentils, put in pan and cover with water, by at least an inch, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add chili pepper flakes and turmeric. Stir for 2 minutes. Add garlic, bell pepper, onion and cabbage. Sautee until cabbage is soft, about 10 minutes. Add peas, and some salt.
4. Add vegetables, rice and lentils to casserole dish, mix and add veggie broth. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts and Lance Armstrong

2009-02-26T16:38:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Austin to run a half marathon. I thought training for a February race would be a fun diversion to cycling, yet not interfere with spring training, and keep me in shape throughout the winter. Upon reflection, I can't really say the training was fun. While the long runs were more enjoyable than those I have done in the past because I had Sallie for company, the weather conditions really made it tough. Between snow, ice, wind and really cold temps, it made for some not so pleasant training days. Because of the weather, I also didn't get out for shorter runs as much as I intended, and I only had planned for 2 per week. I finally succumbed to the treadmill in a panic during the last couple of weeks before the race. In terms of keeping me in shape, it turns out that I gained 4 1/2 pounds in the process. I was a bit surprised when I hopped on the scale recently since not only was I training for this race, but still getting on my bike trainer consistently. The race itself was, however, fun. I felt great, had the best time I could've expected, and broke two hours which was my main goal. And, I also got to check out Austin, which is a pretty funky little city.

The day after the race, we went to Lance Armstrong's bike shop, Mellow Johnny's. It's a great shop. We rented some Trek Madones and went for spin around Austin. After riding around in circles for a while and almost getting on the highway, we finally found our way onto a nice bike route. When we got back there was a t.v. camera set up in the shop, and while we were shopping for t-shirts, the woman who was with the cameraman asked if she could interview us for the news. She wouldn't tell us about what because she wanted our answers to be spontaneous.

I should take a moment here to point out that I had just finished a ride, taken my helmet off (think: helmet hair) and had crusty snot on my nose (Sallie later verified this). At least it wasn't my t.v. debut. That was several years ago when I was walking home in my running clothes after doing a road race in the middle of July (think: humid, sweaty hair), and was stopped to be interviewed. I never saw it, but many people I know did and they were all kind enough not to mention my appearance.

After these two experiences, I now understand why people often sound dumb when they are on the news. You are standing there in front of a camera and several people, and expected to spontaneously come up with an answer to a surprise question (while you are pondering the crusty snot on your nose and weather it will be visible to the home viewers). The topic they wanted to discuss at Mellow Johnny's was Lance's $10,000 time trial bike which had just been stolen at the Tour of California. Did we know about it? What did we think about it? He was using Twitter to try to locate it - was that a good idea? So, while it wasn't anything that required any deep thinking, one of my answers still haunts me. When she asked what I thought about his bike being stole I said something like that was too bad that someone would do that and it could mess up his race, but I was pretty sure he could afford a new one. Now, that wasn't very nice, was it? It doesn't really matter if he can afford a new one. The point is that someone stole his property, and not only that, but something that he needed for the race, and would be hard to replace. It doesn't matter who he is or how much money he makes. Well, that was cathartic for me. I've been carrying that around for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure what a really good answer would've been, but I'll ponder that.

In the meantime, my cousin, who also lives in Texas, (wasn't that a fantastic segue?) has asked for the brussel sprout recipe I made for Christmas. Her fiance liked them and so she wants to make some. She's even considering eating them herself. So, of course, I'm happy to oblige and support the eating of brussel sprouts. I wonder if Lance likes them? I'm not exactly sure how I cooked them on Christmas, but it was probably something like this. I like sauteeing them, because it's fast, but roasting them is even more tasty.

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts
Brussel sprouts - I'd probably figure about 6-8 per person, unless they are really small, then a few more
1 tblspn olive oil
water or veggie broth for moistening pan
salt and pepper
a few splashes Balsamic vinegar (optional)

1. Trim the brussel sprout stems. This is a little tricky. You need to cut of the tough part, but I find if you cut off the whole bottom, then the brussel sprouts fall apart as you cook them and you have lots of stray leaves. Once you trim the bottom, peel of and discard at least one layer of leaf and discard. Cut the brussel sprouts in half.
2. Heat a skillet/frying pan on medium heat and add the olive oil. Let that heat up for a minute. (You don't want to make the pan too hot or else the outsides will brown too much before the insides cook.)
3. Add the brussel sprouts. Sautee for about five minutes on one side, then use a metal spatula to flip them and get the other side. If the pan gets too dry, then add splashes of water or veggie broth. Stir every couple of minutes.
4. Cook until tender. This should only take 10 or 15 minutes if the sprouts are fresh. If it's later in the season, it may take longer. After 10 minutes of cooking, if they are not done, you can put a splash of water in and then cover the pan for a minute which will help to steam them. When just about done, add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Optional: when the sprouts are done, splash with a bit of balsamic vinegar, and turn off the pan. This adds a little sweetness to offset the bitter taste. Or, shut off pan and add some grated parmesean.

Happy Birthday, Blog

2009-02-22T08:06:00.000-08:00

Today is my blog's first birthday! I just decided to have a party for it. To celebrate, we are going to have treats and cook something yummy for dinner. We are about to walk up to Quebrada Bakery and choose an appropriate sweet for the occasion. I'm not sure if my blog would prefer chocolate or vanilla? Cake or cupcakes? But, I guess that doesn't matter because let's be honest, the celebration is really for me.
Each year in January, my friend Elizabeth puts together a book, a combination journal and scrapbook of sorts, that captures many of the events and memories from her past year. It includes pictures, things she has written, emails and letters that remind her of things she has done and interactions that took place. She has it professionally bound and has them lined up on a bookshelf - each year of her life in review. It reminds me of those LIFE magazine year in review books that used to be published, but focused on one person. I love that she does this.
This year, Elizabeth sent me a note as she was putting together her journal. I had sent her an email at the beginning of last year telling her about my life and my aspirations for the year ahead. I had decided to: focus on exploring my relationship with Todd, instead of heading to the Nutritional Therapy Institute in Denver like I had originally been planning at the time I met him; get better at cycling; and start writing a blog. I did all those things. Todd and I have had a great time getting to know one another and interweaving our lives. We even decided to share a living space and moved in together last summer. For cycling, things took an interesting turn when I started to race. This came about when I took the NEBC spring clinic last year and was inspired by the women racers I met. I have since tried road and 'cross racing with close to 20 races under my belt, and took on a coach. Also, as you can witness here, I have kept a blog consistently for a year, and had a lot of fun with it.
I was thankful to Elizabeth for reminding me of these things, and that despite having a particularly lousy year at work, I had managed to keep things in my personal life on track and fulfilling. One recent highlight was that someone I didn't even know and wasn't related to me not only read my blog, but commented on it! She was even from another country - Australia! Anyway, I am inspired to keep on cooking, and writing.
This year, my focus will mostly be a continuation of last year. I would like to actually fully unpack our apartment, and make it a cozy nice place so we can have our friends to dinner without having to eat at TV tables. I will continue with racing and see if I can make improvements and have more fun with it. Last year I considered it an exploratory mission. This year I'd like to make some progress with my performance, but remember to keep some fun, epic, social rides in the mix as well. I will also make some changes on the career front so I can enjoy myself and learn some new skills. In addition, I'm turning 40 this year, and haven't quite decided what to do to mark that milestone. A big trip? A significant ride or hike? A party with friends and family? I'm not yet sure.
So, happy birthday, blog, and I look forward to 2009 with you.

Roasted Curry Butternut Squash Soup

2009-02-21T20:19:00.000-08:00

I've never met a soup that didn't taste better the next day. That is also true with this soup. It's not that it tasted bad last night, but it just wasn't moving me. However, when I re-heated it for lunch today, I was feeling a little more love for it. I still don't think it's exactly what I'm going for, but it was pretty good. I'll have to try another recipe before soup season is over and see if I can find one that really knocks my socks off.
I had made a similar soup a couple of months ago, and had ranted for a bit about the peeling of butternut squash. Well, I found a way around that - roasting the squash. If you cut it in half, and lay it on a pan, you eliminate the need for peeling! The downside is that it takes longer to cook, then you have to scoop the squash out after it's cooked and cooled down a bit. This can also be a little messy, especially if you're me and have a knack for making messes. I'm noticing a bit of dried up squash on my keyboard right now. This is what happens when you use your laptop as a cookbook.
The upside is that I think roasting the squash gives it a slightly richer flavor. Also you only need to cut the onions in quarters and the garlic doesn't need to be chopped at all because you roast those too. Another benefit is that you can put the squash in the oven and hop on your bike trainer for an hour while it cooks. This was my intention last night anyway, but got distracted by Facebooking, IMing, and other very crucial things. It was Friday night, after all. If I'm not going out to socialize, at least I can do a little internetalizing.
I think this soup is worth a try. I fed it to some very hungry cyclists today, post-ride, and they seemed to like it. Although, they were probably just happy to eat something that was warm and not having to be made by them!

Roasted Curry Butternut Squash Soup
1 large butternut squash, cut in half and seeds scooped out
2 onions, peeled and quartered
1 small to medium head of garlic
6 cups of veggie broth (preferably a non-tomato based one)
1 bay leaf
1 tspn brown sugar
1 tspn mild curry powder
1/2 tspn dried oregano
1/2 tspn dried cinnamon
1/4 tspn ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
plain yogurt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Place the squash halves and quartered onion on the baking sheet. ( I started with the squash pulp side down, then turned it half way). Wrap the head of garlic in foil and place that on the sheet as well.
2. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until squash is tender. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Put the broth in a soup pan and bring to a simmer.
3a. If you have an immersion blender (like I do, yeay!) you can scoop all the the squash out of it's skin and add it right with the broth, then squeeze each garlic clove out if it's skin and put that in there as well. Then add the onion, bay leaf, brown sugar, oregano, cinnamon, curry powder, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes, then puree with the immersion blender.
3b. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can either borrow mine, or follow this step: Scoop the flesh from the squash right into a blender or food processor along with the garlic paste (squeeze each clove from it's skin). Add a little broth and puree. Add to the broth in the soup pot along with all the spices, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
4. If you want a creamy soup, you can turn off the heat and add a cup of plain yogurt. I just added a spoonful in the bowl as I ate it. It doesn't need it, but it makes it a bit more mild and creamy, so it's just personal preference.

Acorn Squash with Quinoa Filling

2009-02-02T17:56:00.000-08:00

I just finished listening to one of NPR's On Point shows for today. Tom interviewed Mark Bittman who is a food columnist for the NY Times and many years ago wrote a cookbook called "How to Cook Everything". More recently, after having several health issues and also some concerns about the environment, he changed his eating habits to be more plant based and unprocessed. He wrote a book based on his new lifestyle called "Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating". Of course, I am in favor of his new lifestyle, and while I already know and agree with most of the principles he follows, he did share a couple of pieces of data that still managed to shock me. He read a list of the top 10 foods that make up America's calorie consumption. Soda was number one. So, not even diet soda because there aren't any calories in that. I think cheeseburgers, beer and french fries also fell in the top ten. I can't remember what else. That's so appalling though. If we are what we eat, that doesn't say much about us as a culture, does it? We are a big glob of high fructose corn syrup. We are not going to stay the most powerful country in the world that way. We should be a lot smarter than that.

I hope his book is able to reach more of the masses. "China Study" and "Omnivores' Dilemma" are also convincing in promoting a plant based diet, but are probably too scientific for the average person to get through, and they are not cookbooks. Mark Bittman seems like a pretty average guy, and he was able to adopt this lifestyle pretty easily. He is not a hardcore vegan, but most of his meals are now free of animal products. It's alarming to me how many people say they can't go without meat for more than one or two meals (and that's just meat, not factoring in cheese or eggs, etc). I don't know what this is all about - if it's really some sort of image thing (especially with men), or if people just don't feel full enough without meat. I'm sure the "full" you get from an animal product free meal is a little different than one with meat. But, time and time again I hear from people that eat meat free for a while, but then "splurge" on a cheeseburger that they feel awful afterwards.

Bittman also made a good point about Vegetarianism: being a Vegetarian is not synonymous with being healthy and that being vegetarian can be just as bad, both health wise and environmentally as being a full time carnivore. Someone could eat nothing but Snickers bars and call themselves a vegetarian. Or, like many vegetarians do, one could replace all their meat with cheese and eggs. In this scenario, they are not doing their own health (cholesterol levels, etc.) any favors, and the dairy industry has the same farming issues (use of antibiotics and hormones) and treats animals just as poorly as the meat industry. As an aside, I believe he said that 18 billion animals are slaughtered each year in this country. Is that possible? I need to look into that.

Anyway, I am again reminded that I have let my dairy consumption increase over the last year, and I was reminded of this as I was sprinkling cheese on top of the stuffed squash I was making that really didn't need cheese. I am vowing right now, at the very least to change up my breakfast and stop eating yogurt every morning. I'm not even eating it because I enjoy it. I'm eating it for the bacteria and the calcium, but I can take acidophilus pills, and get my calcium elsewhere, like increasing my tofu intake.

Acorn Squash stuffed with Quinoa
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tblsp olive oil
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup veggie broth
2 acorn squashes, cut in half cross-wise, pulp scooped out
1 can black beans
1/2 cup cooked spinach (if using frozen), or 1-2 cups of chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 tblsp cumin
salt and pepper

1. Rub some olive oil onto the insides of the acorn squash and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put flesh side up on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.
2. Rinse quinoa under cold water. Put quinoa and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 20 minutes.
3. In a tblsp of olive, saute onion, yellow pepper and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add black beans, cumin, and the veggie broth. Cook for a few more minutes, then add the corn and the spinach. When quinoa is ready add that to the mixture.
4. Take acorn squash out of the oven. It should be getting soft, but still not too easy to stick a fork in it. Put some stuffing in each. If you wanted to use some cheese, you would mix a little in now and sprinkle some on top. You will probably have more stuffing than you need, but you can have extra to eat on the side.
5. Bake for about 20 more minutes, until squash is easy to slide a fork into. It can be a bit "al dente". It doesn't need to be extremely soft.

Israeli Couscous Pilaf

2009-01-29T10:47:00.000-08:00

In addition to wanting to expand my horizons with grains, I've also been meaning to try Israeli couscous. Some people mistake this for a grain, but it's actually a pasta, as is regular couscous. Either way, it's fun to say. Repeat it a couple of times and see what you think -couscous, couscous. Good times, eh? The Israeli version is bigger than regular couscous and it also has a chewier texture. I think it has a lot of potential to be used in cold salads or mixed up with some roasted veggies. I will definitely continue to explore more recipes to use it with.
This dish reminded me a little of a risotto because the couscous was so starchy. I may have added too much liquid and I think the mushrooms helped add to this texture. I'm guessing it's supposed to be a bit drier. I thought about adding some grated cheese at the end, but decided to stay true to the recipe. I thought it made for a nice earthy winter side dish, and paired well with some roasted brussel sprouts on the side.

Israeli Couscous Pilaf
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tblspns olive oil
8-10 oz mushrooms chopped, any kind or mixed. I used baby bellas.
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 1/2 cups veggie broth (preferably a non-tomato based one)
salt pepper

1. Saute onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat for about 2-3minutes, then add the mushrooms until they soften and just start to brown, about 6 to 7 minutes. I also added a little oregano when I added the mushrooms. A little thyme could possibly be good instead.
2. Add the couscous and broth, season with salt and pepper, then turn the heat down to simmer. Cover and cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 8-10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Peanutty Kale Stew

2009-01-21T19:31:00.000-08:00

My main food focus at the moment is grains. I tend to rely on brown rice and quinoa quite a bit, so I feel I need to step out and try to utilize some others. In the past, I have used barley and bulghur, so I will re-visit them. But, I also want to try some off the beaten path grains, like millet and amaranth. Since I am also trying to find more ways to use kale, this recipe was perfect because the recipe suggested serving the stew over millet.

When I told a co-worker today about the combination of pineapple, peanut butter and kale, she thought it sounded horrible. But when I let her check out the leftovers I brought for lunch, she took it all back and said it actually looked good. It was certainly an interesting combination of flavors, and surprisingly quite filling.

Peanutty Kale Stew over Millet
Stew
1 tblspn olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple with juice
1 large bunch of kale - cut each side from the stem, then chop cross-wise into 1 inch pieces and discard the stems
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup of chopped fresh cilantro (since it is winter, I used the kind that comes frozen)
1 tspn or more of hot sauce (e.g. tabasco)
scallions - chopped (optional)
peanuts- chopped (optional)

Millet
3/4 cup millet
2 cups of water
pinch of salt

1. Boil the water with the salt for the millet. When it comes to a boil, add the millet. Check at 20 minutes to see if water is absorbed. This amount of water should create fluffy millet. If you like it creamier, add more water.
2. In a large saute or saucepan, saute the onion and garlic on medium heat, stirring frequently until lightly browned.
3. Add pineapple and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the kale and let it cook down for about 5-10 minutes. It will reduce dramatically, but you need to start with a big pan so you can fit it all.
5. Add the peanut butter, hot sauce and cilantro. Cook for another five minutes.
6. Serve over millet, or mix the millet right in. Top with scallions and fresh peanuts.

Sorta Sloppy Joes

2009-01-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

The other night, Todd and I were planning to watch a silly movie and wanted a "fun" dinner to go along with it. The movie was Envy with Jack Black. If you've ever watched any Jack Black movies, you know he typically plays a quirky, slightly crazy, dopey yet upbeat character. (I don't know if that describes him very accurately. I'm not an aspiring movie critic, just an aspiring cook.) When I tossed out the idea of making vegetarian Sloppy Joes, Todd, surprisingly, seemed sightly giddy about it, so I decided to go with it. I researched a few different recipes, and off to Whole Foods I went to pick up any missing ingredients.

My review is this: I give a thumbs down to the movie, and a mostly thumbs up to the Sloppy Joes. Or one star to the movie and four stars to the Sloppy Joes if you prefer that rating system. The concept of the movie was actually kind of funny. The Jack Black character is living a typically mundane suburbian life, and working a pretty mindless job for a sandpaper manufacturer. He is a dreamer and an idea guy. He ends up pursuing an idea for the VaPoorizer, which is a spray in a can which when sprayed on dog poop makes it magically disappear (what a concept)! He ends up becoming rich, much to the envy of his less creative best friend/next door neighbor played by Ben Stiller. This is one of those movies that I think makes a cute 30 minute short, but does not hold my attention as a full length movie.

The Sloppy Joes on the other hand, did keep my attention. The flavor turned out pretty good, but they just weren't drippy enough. I'm thinking that the sloppiness of the meat version gets that way from the grease of the ground beef. However, I might be able to somewhat simulate the sloppiness by having a higher sauce to veggie crumble ratio.

I made some roasted red potatoes to have on the side. I thought this might make the meal seem slightly more sophisticated than if I made tater tots with it. I also used whole wheat hamburger buns. Here are the combination of ingredients I used. I'm not exactly sure of quantities because I messed around with it until the flavor seemed right. For my meat eating friends, if you wanted to do this with ground beef (not that I am advocating this) you would saute the ground beef first, then make the sauce and add the beef in.

And who is this Joe character anyway? I need to find out. I'll do some research.

Sorta Sloppy Joes
1 small to medium onion, diced small
1/2 bell pepper, diced small (I used yellow, but green, red or orange would be fine)
1 stalk of celery, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup of ketchup
2 tblsp mustard (yellow or brown)
1 tblsp brown sugar
2 tblsp red wine vinegar
1 tblsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
about 2/3 of a 12 oz package of Quorn crumbles (you could use any kind of ground beef style veg stuff)
whole wheat hamburger buns
(this will make 4-6 sandwiches)

1. Saute the onions, pepper, celery and garlic for about 5 minutes, until soft.
2. Add all other ingredients, except for veg crumbles, stir and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.
3. Add veg crumbles. Turn up the heat a little since the crumbles are frozen, bring back to a simmer, then reduce heat. Simmer 10 more minutes.
4. Pile onto buns. When I made sandwiches with the leftovers, I scooped out some of the bread to make it less dense.

New Year's Day Chili

2009-01-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009. Today we got the year off to a great start. Todd has hosted a "Chili Ride" Party for many years, and this year I got to host it with him. I had helped make the chili last year, so I had a bit of practice. When we woke up this morning, it was 4 degrees, windy and there was 6 inches of snow on the ground from yesterday's storm, but the sun was shining, so we had that on our side. The wind chill was making for below zero temps, but we decided we should still bundle up and head out for a shorter than usual ride. We named the ride "Destination: Coffee" and 13 of us headed to the Starbuck's in Lexington by way of the snowy bike path. We had lots of fun trying to figure out how to best maneuver our way in the snow.
Back at the house, more people joined us and we had A LOT of food. I sampled pretty much everything: spinach bread bowl dip; fettuccine with veggies; baked mac and cheese; curried lentil soup; salad; sweet potato casserole; stuffed mushrooms; pb&j cookies, chocolaty marshmallow squares, cherry pie, hot mulled apple cider; brownies; and of course, chili.
Todd and I made 5 batches of chili, 3 of which had meat in it. That's a lot of chili! I think we'll be eating it for several days. Todd has allowed me to share his "secret" recipe:

Thick and Hearty Chili
1 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 bell pepper, chopped
8 oz mushrooms, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 14 oz can tomato sauce
1 4 oz can chili peppers, diced
4 cups cooked kidney, black, pinto and/or adzuki beans
2-3 tblsp chili powder
1 tblsp dried oregano
2 tspns cumin
2 tspns paprika
1 tblsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tspn cayenne pepper

1. Heat olive oil in large soup pot. Add veggies and sautee for 20 minutes, sitrring requently.
2. Add tomatoes, beans and spices, cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently
3. Add vinegar, simmer for a few minutes

optional toppings: sour cream, fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, slice black olives

Dueling Black Bean Salsas

2008-12-31T13:47:00.000-08:00

I posted a recipe for a black bean salsa the other day, and in response to that, I got a recipe for a similar black bean salsa, but this one has avocado. And I LOVE avocado. I haven't made this yet, but it looks delicious. It also has tomato in it, and as I had mentioned before, it's nice to have a salsa option without tomato sometimes too. This one also requires more chopping, so that is a consideration. If you are looking for a really easy recipe, I'd go with Black Bean Salsa #1. I will post this so you can have options, and choose which you think you might like best.

Black Bean and Avocado Salsa

Dressing:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 1/2 tblsp sugar
1/2 tblsp of Hot Sauce (ex. Franks, Tabasco)

Salsa:
1 14 oz. can white corn, drained
1 14 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 bell peppers diced (green, red, yellow or orange)
1/8 cup minced scallions
1 avocado, diced
l large tomato, diced

1. Mix the dressing ingredients and let sit.
2. Mix all the salsa ingredients except for the avocado and tomato. Add the dressing and mix.
3. Wait until you are ready to serve the salsa, and chop the avocado at the last minute. Add the avocado and tomato.

Swiss Chard with Cannellini Beans and Tomatoes

2008-12-31T11:27:00.001-08:00

My mom made this for me the last time I was visiting with my parents. I am always looking for ways to incorporate more swiss chard and kale into my diet, so I plan to try this soon. I have to admit, I recently bought some swiss chard to put into a minestrone soup I was making, and ended up throwing the rest out because I couldn't come up with anything good to do with it, and I had forgotten about this recipe. Swiss chard or kale sauteed with garlic and cannellini beans is a very common recipe, but the addition of the tomatoes and crushed red pepper give it a nice kick. I think this would be good served over pasta.

Swiss Chard with Cannellini Beans and Tomatoes
1 bunch of swiss chard
2 tblsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tspn crushed red pepper
1 tblsp tomato paste
2-3 plum tomatoes, chopped (some canned diced tomatoes would work also)
1 14 oz. can cannellini beans
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large sauce pan, bring at least 4 quarts of water to a boil
2. Rinse chard thoroughly. Cut off the stems at the base of the leaves. Slice the leaves crosswise into 1 inch wide strips.
3. Drop the chard into boiling water. Cover and when the water returns to a boil, reduce the heat slightly and simmer the chard for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain in a colander.
4. In a large skillet, heat 1 tblsp of the olive oil with garlic and red pepper over medium heat. Stir constantly for 2 minutes, until the garlic begins to turn golden. Immediately stir in the tomato paste. Stir constantly for 1 minute more.
5. Add the tomatoes, turn the heat to high, and stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes to soften the tomatoes. Add the beans and the chard. Continue cooking over medium high heat for 3 minutes more.
6. Lower the heat to medium-low and stir in the other tblsp of olive oil. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Simmer for 2 more minutes.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

2008-12-28T20:25:00.000-08:00

It seems most holiday feasts are filled with startchy heavy sorts of side dishes, vs. light or "crisp" types of veggies. So, after several of these kinds of meals over this holiday week, I find myself craving green things. I just had to make a stop on my drive home from Maine to get a salad with raw spinach. I couldn't get it into me fast enough. Where we stopped, by the way, was this little burrito place we love in Portsmouth, NH. They have great add-in selections and also have burritos in a bowl, which is what I had tonight. While we make our own version of a taco salad that I've talked about before, I got some new ideas tonight to spiff it up a bit. The burrito place is Dos Amigos and you should try it if you're there.

I often try to bring a big green salad to these occasions, which I did to one of my holiday gatherings, and I've decided to make that my standard dish to bring because I miss it when it's not there. I also tried a new appetizer that I liked - a tomato-less salsa. It was a fun alternative to the ho-hum tomato salsa. A friend at work, Doug, had made it for a potluck, and I liked it so much I had to give it a try. It is super easy to make, it seemed to go over well, and a couple of people asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Black Bean Corn Salsa
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of shoepeg corn, drained (I think this variety is sweeter which is why it's used. I may try regular yellow corn to see how that goes)
1 bunch of scallions, peeled and minced - white parts only
feta cheese to taste (optional, but is very yummy) use at least 1/4 cup

dressing
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup extra light olive oil or canola oil
1/2 tspn garlic powder (or more to taste)
salt and pepper.

1 bag of scoop tortilla chips (these work best because the salsa is so chunky)

1. Mix salsa ingredients in bowl.
2. Mix dressing and add to salsa.

Tofu for Sandwiches

2008-12-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

I admit it- I can be a tad "bah humbugh-ish" regarding Christmas. It's really just a yearly Consumer Olympics. Retailers and shoppers alike perform all kinds of special feats to sell and buy. It's not that I don't like gift giving. I do. I just don't like it in mass quantities. Getting ready for Christmas becomes a series of a million different errands and chores, and I really don't like doing errands or chores- driving from here to there; in and out of the car; sitting in traffic; waiting in lines; making a lot of different decisions about what to get and where to get it; writing out cards; putting up lights and decorations. And the whole thing just gets so out of hand. When you're buying gifts for someone that maybe you don't spend that much time with, and really have no idea what they want, but you have to get them something so you get them a gift card, or you have to buy a generic gift for that Yankee Swap at the party you're going to, it kind of loses all it's meaning, doesn't it? If we really need this holiday to keep our retailers in business and keep the economy healthy, then I vote that it becomes mandatory that we only buy gifts for kids ages 18 and under, donate some clothes and food to a local shelter or family that is really in need, and we all go out in the month of December and buy ourselves a few things we've been wanting.

It is, however, great fun to find just the right gift for someone, and maybe something they wouldn't have bought for themselves, or vice versa to open a gift that you love, that someone picked out especially for you. And not something that you sent them the information for and told them exactly where to get it when they asked you what you wanted for Christmas. Something that they saw, and because they know you well, they knew you'd enjoy it.

I know I sound like an unthankful, horrible person, so it's a good thing no one reads my blog. I do appreciate all the gifts that my friends and family buy for me. And I think the idea of Santa Claus and creating that story for children is really a lot of fun. We have this big secret that everyone above the age of 10 is in on. It's great that we can keep that going. What frustrates me is the societal pressure around Christmas, and people doing things and spending money and going through the motions of certain traditions because they feel they have to do these things, even if they can't afford it and/or it causes a lot of stress for them.

Perhaps I would miss Christmas and all the hoopla if we were to no longer have it. It's not that I want to get back to the true meaning of Christmas, because I'm not a religious person. I just want to slow it down a bit, both in terms of pace and consumption. I heard somewhere recently that the average American consumes something like 700,000 calories in a year, and half of those calories are consumed from Thanskgiving to the New Year. Gross. And let me tell you, I've had my share of calories this month. (The aforementioned cookie swap really did me in.) Maybe something more along the lines of a Winter Solstice celebration with a little Santa mixed in would work for me.

A couple of weekends ago, I took the T into Harvard Square and roamed around the artisan fair they were having there, and poked in and out of stores. I did enjoy myself there without the traffic and mall parking lots. And I got a few gifts that I'm excited to give to people. I also got a great recipe. At one point, I was standing at an earring booth for about an hour staring at stuff. I finally felt compelled to tell the owner of the booth that I was not trying to steal anything, but that I was trying to choose gifts for four different people, and I was starving, so having a tough time. Instead of just nodding his head or something, he instead said, "You know, I'm hungry too. What are you hungry for?" I thought about it but couldn't come up with anything specific. He proceeded to describe the most delicious sounding sandwich to me which included tofu! I then asked him questions about how his tofu was cooked, and came home and made it immediately so I wouldn't forget. I ended up eating it, not on a sandwich, but on it's own, and really enjoyed it.
Anyway, I'm off to do some more Christmas shopping...

Fried Tofu with Nutritional Yeast
1 block of tofu, pressed to get most of the water out, and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1/4 cup soy sauce or Bragg's liquid aminos in a bowl
1/2 cup nutritional yeast in a bowl
1/4 cup canola oil

1. Dredge each slice of tofu in the soy sauce, and then in the nutritional yeast.
2. Sautee in oil on medium to medium high heat until brown on both sides.

Chocolatey Pumpkin Bars

2008-12-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

When someone brought up the idea of doing a cookie swap for our departmental holiday celebration at work, I immediately resisted. But mostly everyone else thought it was a fabulous idea, so I relinquished, and tried to get myself in the holiday baking spirit. I also decided that a cookie swap was much better than a Yankee Swap (I hate those things), and that I should embrace the idea.

At first, I tried to think of a creative way that I could turn chips and salsa into a dessert item, since my chip and salsa addiction is well known amongst my co-workers. But, I couldn't figure out a way to make that work. Then, I thought of a dessert item I realized many years ago I could make pretty easily because it required so few ingredients: macaroons. But if I recall from those days, I am one of only about 4 or 5 people who actually like macaroons (I even dipped them in chocolate). Keeping on the coconut theme, I thought this might be a good time to try making Needhams - something I only learned existed last year. My boyfriend's mother makes them each year for the holidays and they are delicious. When I saw her recently, she even gave me the recipe and all the ingredients I needed to make it. But it requires a double boiler and a lot of work, and I got intimidated. I did plan on making them before the holidays though, and I don't know if the rest of you have realized this, but Christmas is in 10 days.

Anyway, my friend Kathy had made some pumpkin bars to bring to our girls weekend recently, and I really liked them. She promised me they were easy, so I figured I'd give those a whirl. It calls for a jelly roll pan, but since I don't have one, I used a glass baking pan. Once they were in the oven, incident free, I panicked. Wouldn't a glass bake pan require a different cooking time than a metal one? (See - I have learned something from all the baked items I have ruined in my past.) So, I used one of my life lines. I checked to see if Sallie was on chat. Joy! She was. Sallie is a friend of mine who used to be a professional baker. She talked me through my situation and told me to add on a little time. I should also mention that she offered to give me the two dozen almond cookies she had that were all assembled. I could just bake them and pass them off as my own! I was momentarily tempted, but remembered I aspired to be a better baker, so I forged on with the pumpkin squares. They came out fine, and I feel a bit better about myself. Next: The Needham Project.

Chocolatey Pumpkin Bars
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup pecans, very finely chopped
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tspns baking powder
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn salt
4 large eggs, beaten
1 15 oz can 100% pure pumpkin
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup 1% lowfat milk
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or more, if they just "happen" to spill into the bowl)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 15X10X1 baking pan (jelly roll pan).
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients (except chocolate chips)
3. In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs then add all wet ingredients. Mix wet ingredients into the large mixing bowl, add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
4. Spread the batter evenly** into the pan and cook for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
** this is important. I did not take care to really smooth it out and it looked a bit like a topographical representation of a moutainous region.

Mashed Potato Pancakes

2008-11-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

I know I'm probably starting to sound like some kind of mashed potato freak because I talk about them quite a lot. I promise I'll stop after this, but I figure you might have some extra mashed potatoes laying around your fridge after Thanksgiving and need something to do with them. Last night I made some pancakes with my leftovers. They were tasty and went well paired up with a yummy salad (greens, toasted walnuts, cranberries, red onion and a balsamic vinaigrette) and some leftover soup. I had some corn in the same container, so I mixed it right into the pancakes. You could also make some of the gravy from yesterday's entry to pour on top.

Mashed Potato Pancakes
2 cups cold mashed potatoes
1 egg slightly beaten
1/4 c butter or vegan margarine
1/2 c flour for dredging
salt and pepper to taste
1 small onion minced (optional)

1. Mix the potatoes, onion and egg together and form into 6 lean patties or 4 fatter ones. (I didn't include the onion. I was afraid it wouldn't cook enough)
2. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Dredge the patties on both sides in the flour.
3. Sautee in the pan, browning both sides and making sure the patties are heated through.

Mushroom Gravy

2008-11-28T16:18:00.000-08:00

Even when I did eat meat, I don't recall liking gravy all that much. It just never did much for me. Maybe it was just that I so enjoyed my mashed potatoes, I didn't feel the need to smother them with anything. I suppose if you grew up eating fake mashed potatoes (the kind that come in a box as little flakes that you rehydrate) you would certainly need to put something on them to make them taste good. In which case, the potatoes just become a vehicle for eating gravy.

I remember watching my grandmother making the gravy in the pan, whisking it all around in a frenzied manner. I didn't know then what all the action was about, but I now realized she was trying to work all the lumps out of the flour. If you're serving dinner to my cousin's husband, you don't even need to go to all the trouble to make gravy, because his gravy of choice is ketchup. I often watch in awe as Derven takes the bottle of ketchup and pours it all over the entire Thanksgiving dinner his wife just took all day to prepare. Now that I think of it, maybe he uses gravy AND ketchup. I'll have to pay more attention next time. But, hey, to each his own. I enjoy a good squirt of ketchup on many things as well, and sometimes plan a meal just as an excuse to eat some ketchup. I'm not knocking him, just making an observation is all.

I've tried a few vegetarian gravies before, a couple out of a package and a couple made from scratch. The last time I had the packaged kind, I didn't like it at all. It tasted very artificial. When I was planning my Thanksgiving dinner, I got the idea that I should include gravy just because it seemed like the right thing to do. So, I went searching for a recipe, and found this one. I liked it and it was easy to make. I would definitely use it again. I think it would be a nice complement to the vegetarian shepherd's pie I make. I should mention that even Barry liked it. This is significant because Barry is a carnivore AND a picky eater, so if he likes something, I know I've got a winner!

This Thanksgiving has left me with a newly found appreciation for gravy, and will be looking for some more opportunities to utilize it. Maybe if I'm feeling really adventurous, I'll even try mixing gravy and ketchup!

Vegetarian Mushroom Gravy
3/4 cup white or button mushrooms, chopped small
1 small yellow onion, minced
1/4 cup vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I use Imagine No Chicken broth - it's not tomato based)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tspn each of sage, thyme and marjoram
salt and pepper to taste (it's pretty salty already, so salt is probably not necessary)

1. In a large skillet, melt the margarine and add onion and mushrooms, Sautee for just a minute or two over high heat.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add veggie broth and soy sauce. Slowly add flour, stirring well to combine and prevent lumps from forming. Bring to a simmer or a low boil, then reduce heat.
3. Add seasoning, stirring consistently. Allow to cook 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly until gravy thickens.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

2008-11-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

If butternut squash wasn't such a darn pain to peel, I'd probably cook with it more often. I know, I know, I can buy it already cut and peeled at the store. But, I just don't feel right about that. And, isn't it less fresh that way? Maybe there's actually a better way to peel it that I don't know about. I usually just use a potato peeler to take the skin off, and I peel away until I can see orange. It's also sometimes a Herculean effort to cut the squash into chunks, but maybe my knives just need to be sharpened.
But, it's worth the effort. These odd shaped winter squashes yield some pretty tasty meals. Tonight I tried a curried butternut squash soup. I originally thought of roasting it, but that takes more time. Plus, I had been told that last year's cyclocross race in Northampton (where I spent this whole past weekend) had Curried Butternut Squash Soup, so I was disappointed they didn't have it this year, and I had to settle for a mediocre veggie chili. So, I figured I'd just have to make my own curried squash soup.
I'll give you the recipe as is. I had cut back on the apples thinking it might be too much, but I actually think it would have been o.k., and it might give the soup a thicker consistency than mine had.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Red (cayenne) pepper to taste
2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, halved lengthwise, and sliced thin
3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
3 cups water
1 pound tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large soup pot over medium heat, heat olive or vegetable oil. Add onion and saute until golden brown.

2. Add garlic, curry powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper; cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds.

3. Add squash, vegetable or chicken broth, water, and apples. Bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 25 minutes or until squash is tender. Remove from heat and cool 15 to 20 minutes.

4. Puree mixture in a blender or food processor, in batches, and transfer back into soup pot. Season with salt and pepper.

Not Your Mother's Meatloaf

2008-10-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that while my mother was no Julia Child in the kitchen, there were a few things that she made really well. One, as I've told you, was mashed potatoes, and another was meatloaf. Put these things together and it was a pretty darn good comfort food meal. I also used to look forward to making meatloaf and mustard sandwiches with the leftovers the next day. (Other people do this, right? This isn't some weird thing I did that I just admitted to on the internet?) So, when I took up being a vegetarian, meatloaf was one of the things I really did miss. I've tried a few different meatless loafs over the years, and there are many different ways to approach it. I think I like the lentil, brown rice base the best, but I'd need to experiment some more before I could say that for sure. (And yes, I have tried to make sandwiches from the leftovers. It's not quite the same.)
On Sunday night I was thinking of making a vegloaf, but it got too late and I really didn't have all the ingredients I needed. So I decided to take this task on last night. It really isn't a weeknight endeavor - especially since I worked late, had to go to the grocery store on the way home and needed to get on my bike for at least an hour as well. But, my grand plan was to get the pan in the oven and hop on my trainer, since it needed to cook for an hour anyway. I did follow through on this plan, but once again, we were eating dinner at 10:30. There are versions that use crumbled up veggie burgers, which would be far less time consuming.
I took a recipe and messed around with the ingredients, since there are many variations on a theme when it comes to the vegloaf. Feel free to mess around with this one yourself. The important thing is to have something that binds it together so you don't end up with a pile of mush. This one uses eggs, but for a vegan version, I noticed a lot of recipes used quick cooking oats. I may try that next time.

Lentil Loaf
1 1/4 cups lentils (brown or green)
1 small to medium chopped onion
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup cooked brown rice (I used a little more)
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
3 small eggs
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional - this was a last minute addition. I thought the mixture looked a little soupy and thought some cheese might help.)
1 14 oz can tomato sauce
1 tblspn olive oil
1 tspn dried thyme
1 tblspn mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper
salt to taste

1. Measure the lentils into a saucepan and fill with enough water to cover them by at least an inch. Make sure you use a big enough pan because they will get bigger. Bring to a boil , and then simmer until tender, about 40 minutes.
2. Cook the rice at the same time the lentils are cooking.
3. Preheat the oven to 375. Grease an 8x4 loaf pan.
4. In a mixing bowl combine the onion, carrot, bell pepper and wheat germ. In another bowl mash up the cooked lentils, then add to the veggies, and mix in the rice, bread crumbs, walnuts, eggs, cheese, 1/2 the can of tomato sauce, olive oil and spices.
5. Spoon the mixture into the loaf pan and cover with remaining tomato sauce. (You may not need to use all the remaining sauce.)
6. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until cooked through and brown on top. (I cooked for 50 minutes, turned the oven off and let it sit in the oven for at least another 20 minutes. )Cool slightly before slicing and servings

Potato Leek Soup

2008-10-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

I'm guessing that most people don't get super excited at the prospect of eating Potato Leek Soup. It probably doesn't sound that appetizing. Maybe it's the word "leek". Something about it just doesn't say "yummy". A lot of folks don't even know what a leek is, in my experience. It's in the onion family, yet milder than a yellow onion, and looks like a giant scallion. If you were to eat Potato Leek Soup cold, it's actually a French dish called "Vissychoise". That sounds a little more elegant than "leek".
This soup is tasty, comforting, and nutritious. Leeks are a good source of iron, vitamin C, and folic acid. It really only calls for about 4-5 ingredients in it's most basic form. Most traditional recipes call for cream, but I rarely put any dairy in it. It's creamy enough without it. I've tried several different recipes, but here's the one I used tonight:

Potato Leek Soup
1 tblsp olive oil
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced into 1/4 inch rings, and washed
1 medium to large yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into half-inch cubes
4 cups of veggie broth (I like to use the No-chicken broth for this, since it is not tomato based)
a couple of pinches of dried rosemary or 2-3 tspns fresh
salt and pepper

1. Heat 4 qt saucepan and add oil
2. Sautee leeks, onions and 1/2 tspn salt in oil for about 5 minutes on medium heat
3. Add garlic. Sautee another minute.
4. Add broth, potatoes and rosemary if using dried
5. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or so, until potatoes are tender.
6. Put the soup into a blender, or use an immersion blender and puree. If you're using fresh rosemary, you would add it here. If you were using cream, you'd put the soup back in the pot and mix it in now. Sprinkle with fresh ground pepper.

Cranberry Pepper Jelly Snacks

2008-10-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

I've often admired the little jars of interesting jellies in Whole Foods and in country stores, but shy away from them because I'm afraid to spend $9 only to have jar of apricot blueberry jelly go to waste in my fridge when I have no idea what to do with it. But a couple weeks ago, feeling a little frivilous as the autumn air was going to my head, I decided to splurge on a jar of cranberry pepper jelly. And, believe it or not, I've already used up the whole thing! I got into a routine of making little cheese and cracker snacks that are quite tasty. My favorite combo is whole grain crackers, with a smear of the jelly and a piece of cheddar cheese on top. But, it works quite well with goat cheese too. I got so excited by this that I also bought a jar of apple pepper jelly, but we haven't enjoyed that quite as much, and I'm not sure of it's fate. I will probably use some more of it, but not with the same fervor as the cranberry.

I also took to using it as a condiment on my Tofurky sandwich wraps and it was a nice addition. I'm thinking that it could be incorporated into a cheese and cracker appetizer at a party by taking a log of soft cheese and pouring some of the jelly over it, so guests could spread it onto crackers. It reminded me that several years ago, I used to do something similar, but made my own jelly concoction by mixing marmalade with pepper relish. Anyway, if you like cheese and crackers, you should definitely try it!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2008-09-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

Cooking freestyle is the way I like to roll. I may look at recipes for ideas, but then I enjoy messing around with them or combining a couple of different recipes for the same dish, taking certain elements from each and adding my own twists. I don't typically measure unless it seems critical. This is why baking makes me crazy. I am in panic mode the whole time worried that I am going to totally mess up a recipe, wasting time and a bunch of ingredients, because I am 16 granules of sugar short because I didn't quite level off the measuring cup. God forbid I reach for the baking SODA, only to find out I only have POWDER, and I've already got a mess of eggs, butter and brown sugar ungracefully mixed together in a bowl, so I need surge forward, baking soda or not.

And speaking of mess, I usually make a pretty big one when attempting to bake. Cleaning up the flour tornado that seemed to have passed through my kitchen, and getting the goop off the wire beaters is laborious. Then, there's the whole cooling process that I need to be patient about so I don't lose half the banana bread (for example) because it's still stuck to the bottom of the pan, and then have to try to squish it back together. I also worry every time I'm greasing a pan since I'm usually trying to use something that's not aerosol or made of lard, so I'm never sure my substitute greaser is going to do the job. I find the whole process exhausting, really.

On a positive note, there is something appealing about the scientific side of baking. Perhaps if I took the time to understand it better, I might enjoy it. I've erroneously thought this about football though, too. The major difference I can see with baking, however, is at the end of a couple of hours, I have a tasty treat to enjoy. With football, I'd only be left with the feeling that I just wasted many hours of my life that I can't get back.

Last week, I was left with four very ripe bananas, and already had plenty of frozen bananas to use for smoothies, so something had to be done. I ended up making a banana bread AND banana chocolate chip muffins. If you had tried either of these, you'd probably be able to tell that I am fond of chocolate and banana together. I added chocolate chips to the bread as well, and was a bit heavy handed. I found I like making muffins because they don't take long to cook, and they are cute.

I got this particular recipe from my friend, Kathy. I think the actual recipe calls for more all purpose flour than whole wheat but I flipped it, because that's what Kathy does. I consulted my friend Sallie about this, since she used to work at a bakery. She told me you can substitute whole wheat flour for all purpose. It will just be more dense and a little drier.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
1/2 c all purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tspn ground flax (optional)
2 tspns baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/3 c canola oil
1/3 c 1% lowfat milk (I used soy milk)
1 tspn vanilla
1/2 c mini chocolate chips

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Lightly oil 12 muffin cups
3. Whisk together both flours wheat germ, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
4. Combine the eggs, sugar, oil milk and vanilla in a medium size bowl.
5. Pour the wet mix into the dry mix. Fold together and add chocolate chips.
6. Pour evenly into muffin cups.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Let cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes before taking the muffins out.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

2008-09-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Part 2 of the cyclocross clinic I am attending. While being frustrated at my inability to dismount and remount my bike in anything close to a graceful manner, I rolled over some crunchy leaves in the field we were practicing in. A wave of excitement ran through me as I had the realization - it's almost autumn! During my moment of glee, I nearly forgot how appalling I looked getting off and on my bike, and how fearful I am of trying this in an actual race situation. But no matter what the outcome of my performance, I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy 'cross as it has at least one hugely redeeming quality since it happens in the Fall.

Fall is one of the primary benefits of living in New England, and I know it ranks up there as many people's favorite season. Let's take a moment to consider what it is that makes Fall so great. The weather in early Fall is perfect. It's warm and sunny and dry, not hot and humid. We can start pulling out our sweaters as the nights become cooler. It's perfect running weather. It smells good as the air gets a bit crisp and the leaves start falling to the ground. The scene of cheery orange, red and yellow leaves against the backdrop of a blue, or even a grey sky is quite beautiful. There's lots of yummy things associated with Fall. It's apple and maple syrup season. The squashes harvested this time of year are colorful and delicious. Kale and swiss chard are still abound. Basically, Fall appeals to all the senses. It feels, looks, tastes, and smells good. Hmm. I missed one - hearing. There must be something about fall that sounds good too. Marching bands at football games?

Anyway, this stimuli is probably what makes me feel so alive in the Fall. I think there's also present for me an element of nostalgia. It's reminiscent of the days of being young when all these things were signs of the beginning of the school year. I always enjoyed school so I associate the sights and smells of fall with the first couple of months of meeting new teachers, being reunited with friends and starting new classes.

So, when I got up this morning, I knew it was time. I went straight to Whole Foods and bought an acorn squash. On the menu tonight: Acorn squash stuffed with a cous cous and vegetable mixture; a salad with mesclun greens, toasted walnuts and raisins with a Maple dijon vinaigrette; whole wheat crackers with cranberry pepper jelly and cheddar cheese; and, Field Roast brand Veggie Artisan smoked apple sage "sausages".

The stuff squash came out pretty bland, but I know what I did wrong. I forgot the salt and pepper on the squash itself when I baked it, and I added WAY too much cous cous (It's just like making pasta. I always make too much even though I know I am making too much. I can't seem to stop myself.)

The veggie sausages were good. They were pretty expensive relative to some of the brands (i.e. Tofurkey, St. Iyves), but the texture and flavor were very good. They had a couple other flavors I'd like to try. The jelly was by New England Cranberry and very tasty. I also put it on my Tofurkey sandwich I had for lunch. I'm not sure what else I'd do with it besides the cheese and cracker combo, but I'll try to think of something.

You can stuff and acorn squash with so many different rice or cous cous and veggie mixtures. I plan to mess around with it, but a basic recipe follows:

Stuffed Acorn Squash
1. In an oven preheated to 350 degrees, bake the acorn squashes. The squash should be cut in half (cut them horizontally which is opposite of the natural lines found on the squash). Scoop out the seeds and flesh with a spoon. These can be discarded. Rub the surface of the squash with some olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper on them. If they are fresh they will be soft in about 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook some rice or cous cous. I cooked the cous cous in veg broth instead of water to give it a bit of flavor. Sautee some veggies chopped up small: onions, yellow pepper, carrots, corn, kale or spinach. Chickpeas would be a good add in for some protein. You could also mix in a crumbled up veggie sausage. It just depends on weather you want the squash to be a main dish or a side dish. When the rice or cous cous is done and the veggies are cooked, mix them together.
3. Take the acorn squash out, stuff them, and put them back into the oven for a few more minutes to let it all heat up together.

Blueberry Cake

2008-09-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

When we were in Acadia a couple of weeks ago, one of the simple little pleasures we got to take advantage of was spontaneous blueberry picking. Often, when we got off our bikes on the carriage roads to check out a view, or during a hike, we would happen upon blueberry bushes. It was nice to have a tasty little treat while out and about. I never got to do any picking more involved than that, but I observed some beautiful and large blueberries of others who had. I have yet to make the blueberry and goat cheese salad combo I've been meaning to make all summer, either. But for those of you who did go picking and froze your remains, here is a recipe you've got to try. My co-worker, Kim, brought some of this blueberry cake in to work one day this summer. I nearly melted all over my cubicle when I ate it, it was so yummy. As you know, I am not a baker, but I had to ask for this recipe. I thought for sure there was going to be some super secret ingredient in it, but it's pretty basic. If you do try it, can you bring me some?

Blueberry Cake
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tspn salt
2 tspn baking powder
1 cup milk
3 cups blueberries, floured
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

1. Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs, beating after each.
2. Combine 3 1/2 cups flour, salt and baking powder and add alternately with milk to creamed mixture.
3. Stir in blueberries and pour batter into a greased and floured 9X13 baking pan.
4. Mix brown sugar, 1/3 c flour, cinnamon, and butter, and sprinkle over batter.
5. Bake at 350 and check after 40-45 minutes. (I think "checking" means to stick a toothpick in it, and that gives you some indication as to it's readiness. I never have toothpicks, so often try to use a fork or something and I usually flub this up.)

Summer Veggie Wind Down/Summer Squash and Goat Cheese Pasta

2008-09-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

Co-workers are still bringing in the occasional surplus tomato to offer out to anyone who wants it, but it's not like a couple of weeks ago when they were bringing in baskets of them. So, I am guessing the harvest is tapering. I didn't get to make it to a farmer's market this week either where I thought I might load up one more time on summer veggies. Therefore, I was forced to buy summer squash from Whole Foods tonight to get my fix.
Why didn't I grow a basil plant? It seems so easy and I could do it on my back deck, and pick some whenever I needed it, instead of buying a big batch and inevitably throw half of it away because it wilted before I could use it all. The littlest bunch of it was $2.99 at Whole Paycheck, and it didn't even look all that great. I decided to forego buying it, and instead, either try to hit a farmer's market this weekend, or maybe I'll get lucky and someone will bring some into work tomorrow.
The reason I need basil is to try this recipe my MOTHER passed onto me. I have to emphasize this because it is a big deal. Cooking is not my mother's favorite thing to do, and I believe she would eat in a restaurant every night of the week if she could. She has a repertoire of relatively simple dishes she rotates through, and she gets by, but when people reminisce about their moms having cookies coming out of the oven when they came home from school, or some special dish they made for Christmas Eve, I can't relate. She does make excellent mashed potatoes and a mean potato salad though. For her to actually seek out, make, and pass on a new recipe, and one which required her to purchase goat cheese, is something that piqued my attention. I plan to try it this weekend, but in the meantime, I thought it worthy of posting. (By the way, I don't think she would mind me revealing these things about her, especially since she is the only one who reads my blog.)

Pasta with Summer Squash, Basil and Goat Cheese
4 tblsp olive oil
7 small summer squash, thinly sliced
20ish fresh basil leaves, torn in half
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb rigatoni (I'm thinking penne or ziti might be better. Rigatoni is just so big.)
1/4 cup fresh goat cheese, crumbled

1. In large skillet, over low heat, heat 3 tblsp of the olive oil. Add the squash and cook, stirring often, for 30 minutes or until the squash soaks up the oil and is not all watery. As the squash cooks, use a wooden spoon to mash it against the side of a pan. Stir in half of the basil leaves.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente. Drain and put in serving bowl. Toss with remaining olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Tip the squash mixture into the pasta and toss gently. Top with goat cheese and remaining basil leaves.
Serves 4

I Feel Boring and Tired, and Newly Inspired

2008-08-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't prepared any food worthy of note in quite a while. I was on vacation and then when I got back, I was tired, busy and lazy. Last week, many of our dinners were extracted from a box. Sad, but true. It's also been tomato season, so I've been very happy to munch on garden tomatoes, sometimes several times a day. I just eat them solo, or slice them up and put them into some yummy bread for a sandwich. There's only a short window of opportunity each year to do this, and I usually take full advantage of this. The result of this type of binging often results in canker sores from all the acid.
I'm wondering if my tomato frenzy could currently be causing a different issue: tiredness. I just came from eating at a macrobiotic restaurant in Greenwich Village while I'm in NYC on a business trip. My meal was fantastic: seitan cutlets in a mushroom gravy with brown rice, a yam salad, and some steamed veggies, including kale and kombucha squash. Everything was delicious, but I was most excited about the kombucha squash. It looked like acorn squash, but tasted sweeter, and it was steamed instead of baked. I must try this at home.
So, anyway, I was reading about macrobiotic diets a little, and one of the things omitted from this kind of diet are nightshade vegetables (ex. green peppers, potatoes, eggplant and tomatoes). I already knew some people had a hard time digesting these foods. They are called "nightshade" because they do their growing at night, and contain toxins that are meant to keep bugs away. The minimal research I've done so far includes mixed opinions, and it looks like particular storage and preparation may help reduce the potentially negative effects of the nightshades.
Either way, it caused me to give pause and think about my diet. I've allowed a lot of dairy to creep back in, for one. Last week, while eating from boxes, we had white pasta a couple of times. Then, my tomato binge along with some other random things I've been eating while traveling. While I think, any of these things are fine in moderation, I also think I've overdone it with a mix of not great things over the last couple of weeks. So, I plan to clean up my act a bit and do some more investigating of this macrobiotic diet. There were so many tasty things on the menu tonight I was having a difficult time choosing just one dish.
http://www.souen.net/

Pineapple Preparation

2008-08-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

Last night, I cut and peeled a whole pineapple for the first time in my life. It seems like this is something I should have experienced prior to now, given my 39 years on this earth. Then again, there are a lot of things I probably should have done by now, yet haven't. I have yet to purchase a couch, or a house for that matter. Most people my age have done that. I have never had my eyebrows waxed or had a baby, and these are popular activities amongst the 2o and 30 something female set. Yet, I am sure there are a couple of things I have done that many of my peers have not, so I guess it balances out. ( I am now wondering what some of those things might be that could set me apart from my peers, but am drawing a blank. Hmm. There must be SOMETHING. I'll need to ponder that and get back to you. Fortunately, nobody actually reads my blog, so if I don't follow up on this particular item, no one will be looking for an answer. And, anyway, "should-shmud". I don't really believe in any kind of prescribed life formula. I would like a comfy couch though.)

So, as I've been conscious of utilizing fruit in salads more, I have also been thinking of using fruit in other things. The other night I made a stir fry with seitan, veggies and a thai peanut sauce, and thought to myself, "this would be darn good with some pineapple in it". Then I started thinking about other rice dishes that would go well with some pineapple added to it. While fulfilling my grocery list in Whole Foods the other night, I first checked out the already cut and peeled pineapple. I normally do not buy fruits or veggies already prepared, but I was intimidated by the pineapple so thought I'd explore my options. For the most part, I am de-senstitized to the prices at "Whole Paycheck", and have no idea what groceries even cost in regular supermarkets anymore. But I must still have a little sense of reality left because I did feel shocked when I looked at the price of the tiny containers of pineapple pieces. When I saw whole pineapples were actually on sale, I decided to go for it.

What I found is that cutting a pineapple is really not bad at all. I think I was anxious because I anticipated it was was going to be similar to cutting and peeling butternut squash, which I HATE doing. I have never figured out a good or efficient way to go about that task. Pineapple is much softer. It's pretty juicy and messy, but easy and fast to cut. I have a friend who works at Crate and Barrel and she tells me there is a special gadget to core pineapples, but you already know how I feel about having lots of special gadgets...

There is now a large container of chopped up pineapple in my fridge just waiting to be used and it only required $2.99 and a little chopping effort! Let the fun begin! I'll be sure to report back on any exciting dishes.

On a side note, I saw a bumper sticker I thought was cute while riding my bike today. It said: "Good Planets Are Hard to Come By". How true. Let's take care of this little one that we already have.

Pine Nuts, Part II or When Good Pine Nuts Go Bad

2008-07-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Bleck. That describes the horrible taste still lingering in my mouth from the terrible dinner I just made. As I am on my mission to find a great orzo salad, I stumbled across a Mediterranean one that looked promising. The main ingredients: orzo; spinach; feta; red onion; pine nuts and a vinaigrette dressing. How can you go wrong with that? I will tell you - by using rancid pine nuts.

I guess I have finally figured out the problem from last week. It had nothing to do with cooking the pine nuts in oil. I just did some research and realized you need to be fairly particular about how you store them. Just from my little bit of research it seems like there are two good options: (1) Store them in a paper bag, not a plastic bag or plastic container, in a cool, dry area. (2) Store them in the fridge.

Not only am I going to have to throw this salad out because it is inedible, but I think it's going to give me nightmares, and I don't think I am going to be able to use pine nuts for quite some time. It really was that bad. I am telling you this because I like you and I never want you to experience the horribly bitter acidic taste of rancid pine nuts. (Can something be bitter AND acidic?) I'm going to eat some frozen soy creamy cherry chocolate chip yumminess from Trader Joes to make myself feel better.

Cabbage Lentil Pilaf

2008-07-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

I've always had a soft spot for characters in movies or books deemed the underdog or pathetic types. Also, as a kid, I had a thing for stuffed animals that were raggy or strange looking. I felt compelled to love them because no one else probably would. Truth be told, even my dog is probably a bit funny looking to others, and perhaps this is why I love her so much and find her impossibly cute. This same principle applies somewhat to food. I seem to adore some of those things that the majority of people find unappealing. A couple that come immediately to mind are cabbage and lima beans. Who else can admit sincerely that they thoroughly enjoy, and even crave either of these lesser chosen items? I don't seem to be finding cabbage or lima beans highlighted on the menu in any restaurants that I know of. The one exception of course, is cole slaw, and while I do enjoy a well made cole slaw, cabbage has been pigeon-holed as the main ingredient to this side salad when it has so many other uses.

I learned this one summer when my CSA farm had an abundance of cabbage, and we were told we could take as much as we wanted. It's known to keep pretty well, so I helped myself to a bunch. Then, what to do with these heads of cabbage? Since I seemed to be lacking an underground storage area where I could bury the rations for the winter, I realized I did need to use it up somewhat quickly as it was taking up most of my apartment-sized fridge.
I experimented with several kinds of slaw - from traditional to more hip, modern versions with cashews and cilantro with no hint of mayonnaise. But, then I learned that cooked cabbage can be very tasty. I hadn't realized this was the case because the only way I had ever had it cooked was when my grandmother cooked the bejeezus out of it to make the traditional St. Patty's day dish: corn beef and cabbage. Truth be told, I actually even kind of enjoyed it cooked beyond recognition. So, my love for cabbage isn't just a whim or a new phase I am going through. This love is one that lasts.

During this cabbage experimentation period, I found a few dishes I liked quite a bit. I went to a farmers market yesterday where there were some beautiful heads of cabbage. I was reminded of these dishes I found and made one tonight.

Cabbage and Lentil Pilaf
There's two parts to this. You braise the cabbage in one pan and make the rice lentil pilaf in another, then mix them together.

Braised cabbage
1 tblsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, chopped
4 cups shredded cabbage
salt and pepper

Lentil Pilaf
2 cups water
2/3 cup of white wine or veggie broth
1 1/3 cup rice (white basmati)
1/2 cup dried brown lentils
1/2 tspn dried tarragon, more if using fresh
salt and pepper

cherry tomatoes (optional)

1. Sautee onion in olive oil until soft, 5 minutes. Add cabbage and garlic. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. Then take the cover off and cook for another 20 minutes.
2. Bring water, broth and 1/2 tspn salt to a boil. Add lentils and rice and tarragon, cover and cook on low for 20-25 minutes, until the water is absorbed.
3. Mix the cabbage into the pilaf. Add cherry tomatoes cut in half if using. Serve.

How Not to Cook Pine Nuts

2008-07-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

What exactly is a pine nut, anyways? Is it a nut? Actually, I'm pretty sure it's in the seed family. I looked it up a while back and now I'm not sure.
Anyhow, while I am on the topic of things to put into salads, pine nuts came to mind. Of course, they HAVE to be toasted. Most nut and seed type things are a gazillion times better in salads if they are toasted. My favorite thing these days are toasted sunflower seeds. If I already mentioned this 10 times, I apologize, but I really, really enjoy them in my salads.
With my recent move, I acquired a toaster oven, which makes the seed/nut toasting thing a lot easier since you don't have to turn on the big oven to toast just a handful of something. Prior to my toaster oven ownership, I would sautee my sunflower seeds in a small fry pan with a little olive oil and that worked out great. Last week, I cooked up a summer medley of zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes and fresh basil, and thought some toasted pine nuts would be a great addition with this when served over pasta. It was hot and I didn't want to turn even the toaster oven on, so utilized my pan/olive oil sauteeing method. The results were not good. I found it gave the pine nuts an unappealing flavor - bitter? too oily? I'm not sure how to describe it, but I wouldn't try it again. It may be because the pine nuts are oily to begin with, so adding the olive oil was too much. They also sat in a covered container overnight, so maybe they just soaked too much of it in. Whatever the reason, straightforward toasting is the way to go and adding a handful of these little guys can jazz up even the most basic of salads.

Nectarines in a New Light

2008-07-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

I only eat nectarines in the summer and don't think about them much for the rest of the year. When they are good, they can be so yummy, sweet and messy. I typically just have them as a snack and don't think to consume them as part of anything else. However, I recently remembered that I've had them in a salad before. I bought a bunch of them last week, so thought I'd try it. I put them in a salad with a balsamic vinaigrette the other night, and thought that was tasty. Then, last night I made "taco salad" again (see prior entry), and thought I'd try them in that. I was a little hesitant, not knowing how it would mix with the fruity salsa. I ended up liking it a lot and thought it was a great addition.

While I eat lots of veggies, I don't necessarily eat as much fruit as I should. Most days I eat a banana, and I go through periods where I will eat apples regularly (usually in the fall when they are in season). But, this experience with nectarines has inspired me to experiment more with fruit in my salads. I sometimes add cranberries, or chopped up apple in specific salads I make, but I think there's a lot more opportunity for fruits to make an appearance as part of dinner. There's a salad I had in SoHo once that had pieces of tangerine in it. I made it a bunch in the past and will dig that recipe up. Also, a co-worker recently told me about a combination that sounds great - blueberries and goat cheese over greens. Strawberries and raspberries have lots of potential. And what about plums? Pineapple? Mango? Would they work well in a salad? I'm guessing bananas wouldn't be the best, but who knows? I just may try it to satisfy my curiosity...

So, I look forward to messing around with different salad combinations over the next few weeks and will post my favorites. Let me know if you have any!

Black Bean and Couscous Salad

2008-07-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

The other day I was looking to pack a picnic lunch (I love picnics - more on that at a later date), and I thought I'd like to bring something made with couscous. So, I pulled this recipe off the internet, and it wasn't until I was in the midst of making it that I realized it was almost exactly the same as yesterday's Quinoa Black Bean Salad, except with couscous. I figured it's still worth posting though because there are a couple of different ingredients, and this one has slightly less chopping and couscous cooks faster than quinoa, so it's a bit easier to make. If you were feeling especially daring, you could even mix up some of the ingredients between recipes, like put tomatoes in this one, and corn in the quinoa version. Whoa! (This is an indication of how exciting my 4th of July weekend has been.)
By the way, you will notice when beans are called for in my recipes I always list them as canned beans. While I would love to get in the habit of using dried beans and cooking them myself, I just don't have the time for this, or haven't made it a priority. I figure someday when that trust fund kicks in (I just know there's one out there from some long lost Aunt that wants to support my dream of opening a cafe), and I no longer have to spend a large portion of my days workin' for the man, then I will discontinue my use of canned beans and spend my extra hours planting my own herbs and soaking beans. Plus, I'm guessing that all two of my readers (one being my mother) are in the same boat and are more likely to use canned beans as well. But, if you have the time, by all means, use dried beans!

Black Bean and Couscous Salad
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
8 green onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 15 oz. cans black beans, drained (the recipe calls for 2 cans, but I only used 1. If you're looking for a more beany salad, use 2)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring the water to a boil in 2 qt or larger saucepan. Stir in the couscous. Cover, and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Note: Most couscous cooking directions usually call for a 1 to 1 ratio of couscous to water, but I find this makes for a dry couscous. I typically use slightly more water or put some olive oil in the water as it's boiling.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, vinegar and cumin. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans and toss to coat.
3. Fluff the couscous well, breaking up any chunks. Add to the bowl with the veggies and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Serve right away or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

2008-07-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to a cookout and offered to bring a pasta salad. I was having difficulty recalling some of the usual summer salads I make, and was feeling like making something new, so poked around and found a recipe that sounded tantalizing. It was called something like Summer Citrusy Salad, and seemed like just the thing I was looking for. The recipe even called for cooking the pasta in turmeric to turn the pasta yellowy-orange, and I had never done that before so was excited to try it. The rind of one orange was needed and I couldn't find my rinder, but I figured I'd make do. I should mention that I didn't know most of the people at this cookout, and was meeting them for the first time. I'll cut this short by just telling you that the end result was not good. It was not offensive, just not tasty. I did learn a couple of lessons during this experience that I will share with you:

Consider your audience and don't experiment with new recipes on a group of people you are meeting for the first time, and are likely to see again at similar events in the future. I fear I will carry the reputation of the weird vegetarian girl who makes bad pasta salad.
There is no substitute for a rinder. You'd think a cheese grater might be able to stand in for a rinder, right? It doesn't. The salad may have actually been o.k. if I was actually able to use the rind it called for since it was an integral part of the recipe.

Anyway, I figured it was time to pull out some of my favorite summer salad recipes. Here is one of them that I got from one of my Moosewood cookbooks. If you start poking around for quinoa recipes, you'll notice quinoa is often paired up with black beans. They do make a good combo, but I'd like at some point to get more imaginative in regards to quinoa. This is basically the summer version of the Quinoa and Black Beans I posted this winter.

Quinoa Black Bean Salad
1/3 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 tspn olive oil
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice, or more to taste
1/4 tspn ground cumin
1/4 tspn ground coriander
1 tblsp finely chopped fresh cilantro (if you are a cilantro person, you could add a lot more)
2 tblsp minced scallions
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 cup dised bell peppers (red, yellow, green or mixed)
2 tspns minced fresh green chiles
salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse the quinoa in a sieve under cold water. In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil, add the quinoa, cover and simmer on low heat, about 10 to 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed. Set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oil, lime juice, cumin, coriander, cilantro and scallions.
3. Stir in the beans, tomatoes, bell peppers and chiles.
4. Add the quinoa, and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.